Culpeper House

Here Lives A Man with a Pan

Party Treats

Seafood Wreath

Toby

Ingredients

  • 200g smoked salmon
  • 2 hot smoked salmon fillets
  • 250g Large cooked prawns
  • 100g semi dried tomato’s
  • 100g ripe multicolour cherry tomato’s
  • 150g chargrilled veg (courgette, pepper, artichoke etc)
  • 100g lambs lettuce, watercress and other salad leaves
  • 1 Cos Lettuce
  • 1 Tbsp Capers
  • 2 Ripe Avocados
  • Cracked black pepper, freshly ground
  • 2 lemons, cut into slices
  • 150ml Hovmästarsås (“Butler’s sauce”, Swedish), Gravlaxsås (Simple Gravlax sauce), Rævesovs (“Fox sauce”, Danish), Sennepssaus: (Mustard sauce, Norwegian)

Instructions

  1. Shred the Cos Lettuce and mix with the other salad leaves. Take a large serving platter or wooden board and arrange the leaves around the edge, in a circle like leaves in a wreath.
  2. Dice / prepare the avocados, and cover with lemon juice (the juice from half a lemon). Halve the fresh tomatoes.
  3. Arrange the sliced roasted veg, fresh and semi dried tomatoes & avocado onto the salad circle.
  4. Add the prawns around the circle. Break up / flake the hot smoked salmon and arrange around the circle.
  5. Tear the smoked salmon into smaller pieces, and scrunch them up before arranging them over the salad leaves.
  6. Scatter capers over the top, with a little lumpfish caviar if you want an extra decadent wreath. Season with freshly ground cracked black pepper.
  7. Arrange the lemon slices around the outer edge, if desired.
  8. Place a bowl of the sauce in the middle of the wreath.

Notes

Seafood and Salmon Alternatives:

Add cooked prawns to the wreath.

Make an oyster wreath with a dozen freshly shucked oysters. Make a sauce Mignonette with finely chopped shallots and red wine vinegar.

Add mixed cooked seafood to the wreath such as mussels, calamari and small shrimps.

Cucumber slices can be added around the edge between the lemon slices, or between the salmon.

A “hot” wreath can be assembled, with fried breaded calamari, tempura prawns and fish goujons.

Cheese & Charcuterie Wreath:

Alternative Ingredients:

Mixed salad leaves

Assorted charcuterie such as Parma ham, Salami and Garlic Sausage. torn into small pieces

Red Leicester cheese and Cheddar cheese, cut into cubes

Baby gherkins or cornichons

Silverskin onions

Cherries, olives or grapes

Bay leaves

Tooth picks

Salad dressing

Mustard or mayonnaise, to serve

Hovmästarsås & other sauces are emulsified vinaigrette-style sauces made with mustard (often Dijon), sugar, vinegar, oil, and lots of fresh dill, creating a perfect balance of sweet, sour, and fresh flavors for rich gravlax. In detail:

The classic Scandinavian sauce is called hovmästarsås in Swedish. Sweet mustard and dill sauce is traditionally served with gravlax and smoked salmon, and is great with any seafood, as a salad dressing or even a dipping sauce for fried chicken. It has a lovely balance of sweet and sour and a great fragrance from the dill. Sweet mustard and dill sauce is super easy to make; the mustard helps stabilise the oil and vinegar emulsification so that it stays quite smooth. It’s best to add the dill just before serving, but leftovers keep well in the fridge for up to a week even after the dill has been added. This recipe makes enough sweet mustard and dill sauce to serve with one side of smoked salmon or gravedax

Makes about 150ml (⅔ cup)

Ingredients
  • ¼ cup vegetable oil (60ml)
  • 1½ tablespoons Dijon mustard (30ml)
  • 1½ tablespoons honey (30ml)
  • 1½ tablespoons white wine vinegar (30ml)
  • 1½ tablespoons finely chopped dill (6 teaspoons)
Method
  1. Place mustard, honey, vinegar and oil in a bowl and whisk together to form an emulsion. 
  2. Cover and refrigerate until needed.
  3. Just before serving, stir in dill.