Cold-smoked rainbow trout with roast beets, dill pickles and horseradish crème fraîche

Delicious for summer. Serves 4.

Cold-smoked rainbow trout with roast beets, dill pickles and horseradish crème fraîche

You will need:

• 1 smoking box
• 1 maze smoker
• 2 handfuls fine smoking woodchip, such as whisky barrel oak

Ingredients

Rainbow trout

• 1 x 600g fillet of rainbow trout, skinned
• 3 tsp salt
• 4 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tbsp juniper berries, crushed

Roast beets

• 3 medium whole beetroot
• 1 tbsp sea salt flakes

Horseradish crème fraîche

• 4 tbsp crème fraîche
• 1 tbsp horseradish root, freshly grated

Dill pickles

• 1/2 cucumber, finely sliced
• 1 tbsp dill, finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar

Rainbow trout

1. Mix the salt, sugar, pepper and juniper berries together to make the cure then tip into a non-metallic dish large enough to accommodate the fish. Coat the fish all over with the cure, cover with cling film and place in the fridge. The fish will need to cure for at least 12 hours (but no more than 18) ahead of smoking.
2. Once cured, rinse the fish under cold water then pat dry with kitchen paper.
3. Place the fish in your smoking box for a minimum of 8 hours, following the instructions of the maze smoker.

Roast beets

While the fish is smoking, sprinkle the salt on a roasting tray and place the beets on top, unpeeled. Cover with 2 layers of foil and bake at 150°C fan/Gas Mark 31/2 for 4 hours. Remove and set aside with the foil left on. Once cool, remove the skins then slice the flesh into small rough dice.

Horseradish crème fraîche

Mix the crème fraîche with the horseradish and set aside.

Dill pickles

Combine the cucumber with the dill, salt, sugar and vinegar and put to one side.

To serve

Remove the fish and slice thinly or thickly as is your preference. Serve with a small rubble of beets, pickles and a good dollop of the horseradish crème fraîche.

Read our recipes for the best sauces for trout.