Queen Elizabeth State Dinner Starter

Cured Wild Burren Smoked Salmon cream and Lemon Balm Jelly, Horseradish and wild Watercress

Ross Lewis, head chef at Chapter One restaurant in Dublin at the time, was awarded the most sought-after gig in town in culinary terms when he was chosen to create some of the menu for the Queen’s banquet during her state visit. High-profile guests at the event at Dublin Castle on 18 May 2011, including former President Mary McAleese, British prime minister David Cameron, Cecelia Ahern, Brian O’Driscoll and Amy Huberman, were treated to a lavish selection of dishes that were representative of Ireland, and were made with the best of high-quality Irish produce. The Michelin-starred chef shares with us the exact menu from that momentous banquet, so that you can recreate the starter for the State Dinner in the comfort of your own home! If you want to know what was going on behind the scenes from the Burren Smokehouse perspective, read the up to now unpublished story that brings together Queen Elizabeth II, our wild salmon and then-buyer with Dean & Deluca, Diane Stopford!

Serves

10 People

Ingredients

CURED SALMON:

1 side of Burren smoked Wild Salmon

CURING SOLUTION:

1.125 l water

200g rock salt

400g sugar

15g black peppercorns

10g star anise

5 cloves

4 juniper berries

½ tbsp white wine vinegar

1 bunch coriander

1 fennel bulb, finely sliced

WILD SMOKED SALMON CREAM:

150g Wild Burren Smoked Salmon

200g crème fraîche

1 tsp lemon juice

½ tsp tabasco

4 pinches smoked paprika

Salt and pepper

LEMON BALM JELLY:

200g celery

1 clove garlic

200ml white wine

50 ml white wine vinegar

2 l still mineral water

300g fennel

10g ginger

2 star anise

30 black peppercorns

1 tbsp of lemon puree

200g lemon balm

200g lemon verbena

8 leaves of gelatin to 1 litre of liquid

HORSERADISH CREAM:

200g good quality crème fraîche

1 tbsp horseradish puree

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

Pinch of salt

WATERCRESS PUREE:

500g watercress

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

300ml single cream, reduced by half

Salt and pepper

PICKLED VEGETABLE:

20 small shallot or grelotte onion rings

20 slices of radish

PICKLING SOLUTION:

200 ml apple vinegar

50g of sugar

2/3 generous pinches of salt

GARNISH:

Chive Flowers

Organic rapeseed oil

Method

CURING SOLUTION:
Boil all ingredients except for the fennel. Add sliced fennel to the heat and leave to infuse. When cold, place salmon in the solution and leave to marinade uncovered in a fridge for 24 hours to dry. When marinated cut 8 half inch cubes from the thick part of the salmon.
WILD SMOKED SALMON CREAM:
Bring crème fraîche to the boil with the trimmings and skin of the smoked salmon. Cool and pass through a sieve. Place in a Pacojet with trimmed smoked salmon and freeze. When frozen, blend and fold in a further 150 to 200g of crème fraîche.

Season with lemon juice, tabasco, smoked paprika, salt and pepper.
LEMON BALM JELLY:
Bring all ingredients together except for the last three, and cover. Simmer for 40 minutes on a low heat. Pass onto 200g of lemon verbena and 200g of lemon balm. Leave to infuse for 2 to 3 hours while covered. Pass through a muslin and set with gelatin.
HORSERADISH CREAM:
Whisk the crème fraîche and add the horseradish and vinegar just before it gets to a stiff peak. Put into a small plastic bottle.
WATERCRESS PUREE:
Blanch and refresh watercress, squeeze as much water out as possible in a paper towel. Freeze in pacojet container. When frozen, pour in the reduced cream and season with the Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper. Pass through a sieve. Put in a small plastic bottle.
PICKLED VEGETABLE:
Bring the apple vinegar, sugar and salt to the boil. Leave the vegetables to marinade for 2 hours in the pickling solution.
GARNISH:
Place 25g of wild smoked salmon cream into a consommé bowl and cover with 100ml of lemon balm jelly. Chill for 3-4 hours. Garnish with 2 cubes of cured salmon, 3 radish and 3 onion rings, 3 dots of horseradish cream and 3 dots of watercress puree. Then place 5 or 6 chive flowers and 1 tsp of cold pressed rapeseed oil on the plate.