Cured trout with rhubarb & rose petals

Winter

I’ve always loved the combination of roses and rhubarb: I’ve scattered fresh rose petals over pink-topped rhubarb Pavlova, and I’ve cooked rhubarb over the lowest of heats with rose water and honey – both times making an exquisite combination. Here, I’m integrating this gorgeous duo into a cure for fresh trout. It’s a little like making a gravadlax, except I’ve replaced the dill with the heady, aromatic roses and the lemon with the brash acidity of rhubarb. If you’ve caught the fish yourself, you’ll need to have a good go at the pin-boning (I use a small pair of pin-boning tweezers) to remove as many bones as possible before you cure the fish. If you’re buying filleted fish, your fishmonger will have done this for you.

Serves 8-10

Ingredients

100g (3½oz) rock salt or sea salt flakes
50g (1¾oz) golden caster sugar
zest of 1 lemon
2 rhubarb stems, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 teaspoon fennel seeds, lightly bashed
2 teaspoons black peppercorns, cracked
2 tablespoons rose petals
2 large trout fillets (200–300g/7–10½oz each), pin-boned
crème fraîche mixed with a squeeze of lemon juice, to serve

Method

To make the cure, combine all the ingredients except for the fish in a bowl. Take a medium plastic or enamel tray (one that will fit in your fridge) and scatter a quarter of the cure over the base, covering an area the size of the fish fillets. Lay the fillets skin-side down on top, then scatter over the remaining cure as evenly as you can. Place the fish in the fridge, uncovered, and leave for 20–24 hours. After this time, rinse the cure off the fish under cold running water.

Pat the fish dry with a clean cotton tea towel. Lay the fish on a clean tray and place it in the fridge, uncovered, to allow it to dry out a little. I tend to leave it for a further 24 hours, or overnight.

When you’re ready to serve, use a super-sharp knife to slice the fish thinly at an angle across its width, down to the skin underneath.

Serve with buttered, toasted bread and a little lemony crème fraîche on the side.

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