White fish Spring Appetiser 

Last Friday it was the first time my hubby and I went for dinner just the two of us while little L was taken care of, back home. One of the dishes at the restaurant was cured white fish dish that had a mix of different components from passionfruit to ponzu and a tarragon oil around it all. It was sweet and fresh, the shiso leaves added a new dimension and together the flavours were heavenly. The dish was so good, we tried to re-create it back home and it turned out amazing. I wanted to share this recipe with you all, so you can enjoy it too. We purchased the “siika” (white fish in Finnish) already cured, but of course, this process can be done at home too if you prepare in advance. For my international followers, if you do not find cured white fish and do not wish to do it yourself, this would work with fresh salmon too, sashimi style. The cured process cooks the fish with salt and sugar and adds a lovely salty flavour to it.

Ingredients 

• cured white fish (graavattu siika in Finnish) slices
• shiso leaves
• tiny bit of cucumber
• tiny bit of paprika
• fresh tarragon
• olive oil
• green/rosé pepper
• passionfruit
• ponzu sauce ( we used a lemon flavoured ponzu sauce)

Directions

Begin by making the tarragon oil. In a blender mix together fresh tarragon leaves, lime juice and olive oil. For my international followers, cured fish is a nordic concept- where raw fish is cooked with sugar and salt overnight in the fridge. In Scandinavia, you can buy ready slices of cured fish in all super markets, but these are best bought from fish stores, for the freshest of flavours. If you cannot find this white fish called siika, cured salmon will also do. The cured white fish we used was flavoured with dill and rosé pepper bought from the market hall.

This dish is really easy to make, it looks beautiful and the components work great together. This dish is inspired from a restaurant we went to last Friday and tried testing it at home. My husband and I were both impressed how amazing it turned out and it honestly has become one of our favourite appetizers. So the only thing you need to do for this dish, is to make the oil and sugar the cucumber, the rest is all about plating.

At this point, cut tiny little slithers of (about 1.5cm long) green paprika (only using the skin part) that is used for garnishing. The skin has a tangy flavour to it and works well with the fish. Also cut similar pieces of cucumber flesh and place into a little bowl of water with a pinch sugar. Leave the cucumber to marinate for about 15 min or some.

Ready to plate: Place the cured fish slices into a little wreath shape in the centre of your plate. Add the paprika and cucumber in little nooks of the fish so it looks pretty. Pour some ponzu sauce in the middle of the wreath. Add the tarragon oil on the outer part of the wreath. Scoop some passionfruit into the centre and on top of the fish. Add shiso leaves on top of the fish and sprinkle with any desired pepper.