Peter Thornley's Salmon Fondant with Rhubarb and Citrus Salad

June 24, 2003

There is home cooking and there is restaurant food. True, many of the dishes served in restaurants are quite within the capabilities of the accomplished home cook. But there are some dishes we would probably never tackle because they are either too fiddly, involve too many ingredients - or ingredients we don't have a lot of use for in a home kitchen. Some dishes require lengthy preparation - special stocks and reductions and so on - and are really only practical when made in restaurant quantities. Who wants to slave away for a day or two to product a couple of tablespoons of some highly concentrated flavouring that will merely be drizzled over a finished dish?

There are some dishes that are definitely best left to the chef and his team so that dining out becomes a memorable experience. It's nice to be challenged by someone who has pushed the envelope, as they say; who has managed to blend some totally disparate ingredients into a harmonious whole.

I was listening to the radio this morning and heard chef Peter Thornley talking. He predicts that the days of mash are numbered and he has come up with some cutting edge dishes for his new menu.

How is this for his new take on bacon and eggs - soft poached quail eggs, Parma ham, confit tomato, artichoke and sage latte, parmesan tuille. The sage latte is made from the quail egg poaching liquid.

It is his pleasure to tell the consumer that the bacon comes from last century. It's real aged Parma ham that has been some years in the drying.

It certainly won't be oozing water like much of today's overprocessed bacon that hits the pan and then sheds liquid like the pig has been on diuretics! Whatever happened to real bacon?

Thornley mentioned making some little bonbons out of quails eggs, swathed in parmesan and deep fried, injected with a little truffle oil and presented wrapped up like a sweet. Crispy outside, soft inside. I was trying to envisage a mass production line turning out these "confections‚" and decided it might well be a "don't try this at home‚" number.

Anyway, here is a recipe Thornley shared with listeners this morning. He says the tea flowers are available in the shop at Wellington's Te Papa museum. I'm sure they could be omitted if unavailable. And yes, the rhubarb is raw. In case you're wondering - it's the leaves of the rhubarb that are toxic, not the stalks.

Peter Thornley's salmon fondant with tea flowers on a citrus and salted rhubarb salad with mirin and sake dressing
Serves 4

200gm Akaroa salmon, skinned and boned
3gms ground tea flowers
150gm rhubarb
1 pink grapefruit
20gm castor sugar
5gm salt

Salmon cure
5gm salt
15gm brown sugar

Dressing
50 mls walnut oil
50mlsmirin
20mls sake
10 mls grape seed oil
10 mls extra virgin olive oil
juice from grape fruit

Garnish
pinch ground tea flowers
6 pieces of chives
1 gm sea salt

Method
Combine the cure ingredients and rub over the salmon. Wrap in plastic film and place in the fridge for 1 hour.

For the dressing, combine all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk together. Cover and place in the fridge.

Slice the rhubarb thinly on the bias and sprinkle with the salt and sugar. Allow to stand for 3 to 4 minutes until the rhubarb becomes a little limp.

Segment the grapefruit and then cut each segment into 5 pieces. Finely chop chives.

To Serve
Mix together the grapefruit and rhubarb and place in the middle of each plate. Slice the salmon into 12 pieces and place 3 pieces on each pile of rhubarb. Spoon over dressing and sprinkle with tea, chives and sea salt.

Recipe © Peter Thornley