Smoked salmon fillets with dill-pickled vegetables, crème fraîche & salmon roe

Pickle vegetables and serve with smoked salmon for a fabulous festive starter. Keep the leftover veg in the fridge to have with cold cuts over Christmas

Prep:20 mins
Cook:20 mins
plus draining and 2 days pickling

Serves 6 as a starter
Easy

Nutrition per serving

kcal 444
fat 34g
saturates 14g
carbs 6g
sugars 5g
fibre 1g
protein 27g
salt 2.1g

Ingredients

6 lightly smoked salmon fillets
15g unsalted butter, melted
200ml crème fraîche
50g salmon roe
100g cucumber
3 tsp sea salt flakes
350ml white wine vinegar
2½ tbsp granulated sugar
2 tsp celery seeds
1 tsp black peppercorn, bruised
150g carrots
100g radishes
150g cauliflower, cut into small florets
½ red onion, finely sliced
½ small bunch dill, torn into little sprigs

Method

First, for the pickles, cut the cucumber into rounds and layer it in a sieve, sprinkling with 2 tsp salt as you go. Set over a bowl and leave for a couple of hours – the salt will draw out the moisture.
Bring 200ml water to the boil in a pan with the white wine vinegar, sugar, 1 tsp salt, celery seeds and black peppercorns. Leave to cool.
Peel the carrots and cut them into batons. Clean the radishes really well, then cut them in half lengthways. Squeeze the drained cucumbers of excess moisture.
Put all the vegetables in a 1-litre sterilised jar with the dill and pour the cooled vinegar over them, then seal with a lid. Leave to sit at room temperature for two days before serving, or keep chilled. Will keep in the fridge for four weeks.
Heat the oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5 and put the salmon fillets on a baking sheet. Brush the fillets with the melted butter and scatter with black pepper. Cook for 14 mins.
Serve the salmon with some of the pickled vegetables, a generous tablespoon of crème fraîche on each fillet, finished with a spoonful of salmon roe on top.