Laurent Loudeac’s Ora King Salmon Sashimi “My Way”, a Champion at the Dilmah Real High Tea Challenge

Laurent Loudeac and Camille Furminieu of the Museum Art Hotel’s Hippopotamus Restaurant in Wellington are the global winners of the Dilmah Real High Tea Challenge 2015. The pair proved they had the the most innovative revolution in high tea with the theme “The Meeting of the Senses” using tea to cater to the senses of sight, smell, taste, touch and sound. Laurent gives us his recipe (below) for his Ora King Salmon Sashimi “My Way”, which was a feature on his menu at the challenge.

Laurent Loudeac and Camille Furminieu with the Leaf Artisan Trophy

 Ora King Salmon Sashimi “My Way”

Ingredients

-100gm Ora King fillet, deboned and skinned, only use the thickest and meatiest part of the salmon
-1 cucumber, peeled into ribbons
-50gm wakame salad
-Wasabi paste

Soy jelly

-100ml good soy sauce
-1/2 garlic clove, crushed
-1 shallot, sliced
-1 slice of fresh ginger
-2tbsn brown sugar, caramelised
-1 gelatine leaf
-100ml water

Ginger syrup

-100ml water
-100gm caster sugar

-3 slices fresh ginger

Method

Soy jelly: Sweat the shallots, garlic and ginger,  before adding the brown sugar and soy sauce, simmer the mixture for 5 minutes. Soak the gelatine leaf in cold water, drain the excess water from the gelatine and place in a container, pass the infused soy sauce through a fine sieve into the container with the gelatine then pour the soy/gelatine mix into a shallow tray – the mixture should be 3mm thick. Place in refrigerator to set.

Ginger syrup: Place all 3 ingredients in a pot and bring to the boil, cook the mixture until you obtain a syrupy consistency. Put in a small squeezy bottle a nd keep aside. Do not refrigerate.

Note:  remember that the syrup will get thicker as it get cold. Don’t over reduce or it will set hard once cold.

Salmon: Take the salmon fillet and cut 20 even cubes 1cm x 1cm x 1cm. It has to be perfect cubes. 2 per person.

To assemble:  Take the jelly tray out of the fridge and cut 10 square 1cm x 1cm. Place on baking paper back in the fridge.

Peel off 20 cucumber rubans and trim them so they can perfectly fit around the salmon. On top of each salmon cube put a little dot of wasabi paste then the soy jelly square on top. Wrap the cucumber ruban around, making sure it is nice and tight. Put each cube in a Chinese spoon, add a small amount of Wakame salad on top of each cube, finish with a drizzle of ginger syrup and sprinkle sesame seeds on top.

Enjoy the explosion of taste, and the match and cleansing effect of the Ran Watte with richness of the salmon.

Dilmah Ran Watte Tea, photo by Ross Goblin

 Read the full Dilmah Real High Tea Menu from Hippopotamus NZ  here

See the pair preparing their dish with Delaney Mes