Sea trout is in abundance off the Yorkshire coast in summer and is an ingredient that should be used when it's at its best in season. It's great thrown on the BBQ or as a fillet. When cooking, make sure that it's still pink when served, as it can become dry if overcooked.
The fennel pollen in this recipe is quite hard to get hold of (and quite expensive), but is well worth the effort. It's fantastically fragrant and dried to a powder, so you only need a little pinch to get the full impact.
Ingredients: Serves 4 500g piece of sea trout fillet, skinned and pin boned 2 shallots 100g cornichons bunch flat leaf parsley bunch dill 2 tblsp mini capers 1 lemon 75ml rapeseed oil 1 dash Tabasco 1 tsp sea salt 200g crowdie (goat's curd), or cream cheese
1. For this recipe you must make sure that your fish is really fresh. Place your fillet of fish in the freezer for about 30 minutes to firm it up. Then remove and slice and chop into little cubes whilst the flesh is semi frozen and the fish is easier to cut. Place the chopped fish into a mixing bowl. Finely chop the shallots and cornichons and add to the sea trout. Chop some parsley and dill, and add it to the mix with the capers. Add the zest and juice of half a lemon, a dash of oil, Tabasco and a good pinch of sea salt. Mix well, and taste to see if it needs more seasoning. Cover with cling film and chill in the fridge.
2. To make the scotch eggs, boil the quail eggs for 2 minutes, 20 seconds and place straight into ice water. Once chilled, peel very carefully as the centres are soft-boiled to create a runny yolk. Put the salmon, 100g of the crowdie and a little chopped dill into a food processor and pulse until bound together. Take a little of the salmon mix and flatten it out, place 1 quail egg in the middle and wrap the mixture around the egg. Repeat for all of the eggs and set in the fridge to chill for at least 1 hour.
3. Take the salmon balls from the fridge and pass through the flour, beaten egg and breadcrumbs. Place back in the fridge until needed.
4. To serve, take the sea trout mix from the fridge and press it into a 5-6cm ring mould, leaving about 1cm at the top. Fill the remaining space with the crowdie, and then scrape over the top of the ring with a pallet knife, which will leave a perfectly smooth surface. Run a knife down the side of the ring to remove it from the mould. Place the sea trout in the middle of each plate.
5. Deep fry the scotch eggs for 2 minutes at 180°c/gas mark 4 until golden brown, and then cut in half and place the 2 halves on top of the sea trout. Garnish with the fennel pollen, herbs and a drizzle of rapeseed oil.