May 4th, 2009

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Restaurant Sat Bains, Organic Salmon, Miso Caramel, Nettle Juice

There is no place like home! My place is in the kitchen. I like eating in restaurants and enjoying the beauty of a well designed dining room but when given the chance to see the kitchen only then do I feel like I’m at home.

When we had the opportunity to visit Sat Bains at his Nottingham Restaurant a few weeks ago we were delighted. Even more so when we managed to spend a few hours in the kitchen.

It’s immaculate and well presented.

The kitchen is truly bespoke; every shelf and every table is in the right place for its specific  function. Then we saw the cooker.

Cooker is perhaps not the right descriptive word for this state of the art well designed piece of engineering. Sat told us that the chap, who designed the cooker,immersed himself in the kitchen to fully understand what was required. It’s brilliant!

The passion generated carried on for the rest of the day. Every dish was plated with a lot of confidence and pride. This Organic salmon dish is no different.

Sat was telling us about his use of British produce with a slight Japanese influence due to his recent visit to Kyoto and the understanding that he has for Umami.

This dish made a real impression on me from the subtle but perfectly developed nettle juice to the perfectly cooked organic salmon.

Every flavour, texture and taste detected in this dish was clearly discernible.

sat_bains_kitchensat_salmon

Salmon

  • 200g sugar
  • 200g salt
  • 4 pieces of kombu
  • 1L water
  • ½ side of Organic Salmon

Make a brine by placing the sugar, salt, Kombu and water in a saucepan.

Gently heat to dissolve the sugar and salt. Cool the brine complelty.

Remove the pin bones, skin and all the fat from the salmon. Cut the salmon in 2” long strips. Place the salmon in the brine for 1 hour.

Preheat the water bath to 40°C.

Remove the salmon from the brine and wash it under cold running water.

Cut the salmon in 1” x 2” pieces place the pieces of salmon in a clean vacuum bag and seal on hard vacuum.

Cook the salmon in the preheated water bath for 10 minutes. Cool the salmon completely in ice water.

Miso Caramel

  • 200g caster sugar
  • 100g water
  • Good quality miso paste

Make a caramel with the water and sugar, once the caramel has reached the desired colour dip the bottom of the saucepan in cold water to rapidly stop the colouring of the caramel.

Once the caramel has cooled slightly but not completely set stir in miso paste to taste and the correct consistency.

Nettle Juice

  • 100g nettles
  • 1 banana shallot
  • 25g unsalted butter
  • 1 potato
  • 100ml chicken or vegetable stock
  • Salt and pepper

Peel the banana shallot and potato.

Finely chop the shallot and grate the potato on a grater.

Heat a medium saucepan with the butter, sweat the shallot and potato until transparent with no colour, add the nettles and seasoning.

Add the stock bring the stock to the boil and cook for about 8 – 10 minutes until the potatoes are soft.

Puree the soup in a very powerful blender until very fine and pass the soup through a fine sieve, cool over ice.

Pickled Cauliflowers

  • ½ cauliflower
  • 200g water
  • 100g caster sugar
  • 200g white wine vinegar
  • Salt

Cut the cauliflower into very small florets.

Place the sugar, salt, water and vinegar in a small saucepan, gently dissolve the sugar, bring the pickling syrup to the boil and cook for 5 minutes.

Pour the pickling syrup over the cauliflower florets and let the cauliflower pickle for 12 hours.

To assemble the dish

Use a pastry brush to brush a swipe of the miso caramel across the plate.
Place the salmon in the middle of the plate. Scatter the drained pickled cauliflowers over the salmon and garnish the salmon with coriander cress. Pour the chilled nettle juice in a small jug and serve on the side. Let the guest pour their own nettle juice over the salmon.

Sat’s Tips
Buy the best quality miso paste that you can afford. It does make a difference to the taste and flavour of the final dish.


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4 Comments to “Restaurant Sat Bains, Organic Salmon, Miso Caramel, Nettle Juice”

  1. lee says:

    i love your site and recipes,the dish looks great,but what type of miso is used,i visited my eko store and they have lots of miso for sale,please can you help.keep up the wonderful work.

  2. Koowy says:

    Looks good, Ill try it this weekend.

  3. mycookinghut says:

    Looks really pretty!

  4. In wouldn’t dream of trying to replicate this at home. That’s the beauty of eating out that you can enjoy the true masters’ craft. This is truly a work of art.

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