Short smoked salmon fillet - white beans with miso - Non-alcoholic shiso five spice sprizz

Recipe, Food-Styling, Styling, Photo: Oliver Schwarzwald

Shiso -Miso

A tabletop smoker is a great thing. The investment is very manageable. The thing is cheap, but it gets you ahead in terms of cuisine. Trout, char etc. can be smoked hot in minutes and served while still warm. You can easily determine the degree of smoking yourself. With salad or other "delicate" side dishes, the fish on sale are often too heavily smoked for me. In this pairing, too, the fish is only lightly smoked. This time it is salmon fillet, which is fatty and takes on the smoked flavour quickly, so 10-15 minutes in the smoke is quite enough. The salmon's own flavour remains strong enough to take on the spicy beans. They are seasoned with miso, lemon and marjoram. The dish tends slightly towards Asia. These ideas are extended in the drink. The Shiso - Thai basil syrup brings fresh, floral notes. Verjus gives the non-alcoholic spritz an additional fine acidity, and the Five Spice syrup rounds everything off with spice and subtly underlines the "Far East" idea. I was particularly surprised by the red shiso. When boiled down, the herb seems rather musty, but in the syrup it unfolds its full power. Besides the taste, the bright pink colour is a real delight. The eye drinks as well! Highly recommended not only for a non-alcoholic sprizz, but also simply with tonic or seltzer. 

Salmon with White Beans

Serves 4

180 g. dried butter beans, soaked overnight and drained

½ chilli

2 cloves

1 bay leaf

1 tbsp. miso

1 lemon juice 

1 tsp lemon zest

4 tbsp olive oil

1 clove of garlic finely chopped 

1 small onion finely chopped

2 tbsp marjoram leaves

120 ml bean water

2 handfuls rocket

500 salmon fillet approx. 125 g. p. person

Table smoker

1 tsp. smoked flour / beech

Cover the drained beans with 5 cm of water in a large saucepan. Add cloves, chilli and bay leaf. Partially cover with a lid and simmer over a low heat until tender. Add more water if necessary so that the beans are always covered with 5 cm of water. After about 3 1/2 hours, drain the beans. Important: keep 120 ml of the cooking water!

Grind the garlic clove with salt to a paste.

In a small bowl, whisk together the miso paste, garlic, lemon zest and lemon juice. Add the olive oil, onion and marjoram and season with salt.

In a large bowl, mix the beans with the 120ml of bean cooking liquid. Add the miso dressing and toss to combine. Season again lightly with salt. 

Portion the salmon, and smoke in the smoker for 15 min. Leave the vent open.

In the meantime, arrange the beans and ruccula on a plate. Remove the salmon from the smoker and serve while still warm.

Drink

5 CL Shiso Basil Syrup

2.5 CL Verjus / more or less depending on the acidity of the sparkling wine

1 CL Five Spice Syrup

Non-alcoholic sparkling wine to pour.

Shiso - Basil Syrup

50 g Thai basil

50 g Shiso leaves

250 g sugar syrup 

500 ml water

Heat the water with the sugar until the sugar has completely dissolved. This is important because otherwise the syrup will crystallise again.

Pluck the leaves from the stems and chop them coarsely. Add to the sugar water. Bring to the boil briefly

and then leave to infuse until everything has cooled down. Strain into a jar. Store at room temperature because the syrup tends to gel.

5 Spice Syrup

500 ml water

250 g. Sugar

1.5 tbsp. 5 Spices spice powder

Heat the water with the sugar until the sugar has completely dissolved. Stir in the spices and 

then leave to infuse until everything has cooled down. Strain into a jar.

Photo: Oliver Schwarzwald