Asparagus with Hot-Smoked Salmon

Bart van Olphen is co-founder of the Fish Tales brand, which sells sustainable fish products. So it’s no wonder that he knows pretty much everything about fish. His book Bart’s Fish Tales is packed with fish recipes, including these asparagus with hot-smoked salmon.

From Bart’s Fish Tales: “Dried fish keeps for a long time. Without water, microorganisms cannot grow, so the fish cannot spoil. In cold regions, people used to simply hang fish outside to dry. But in warmer, more humid climates, the fish would spoil before it had dried. That is why the fish was salted beforehand (salt draws out moisture and kills mould). But even then, the process was sometimes still not fast enough.

Especially with oily fish, there is a risk that the fat oxidises, giving it a rancid taste. To speed up the drying process, the product was therefore hung near a fire. And where there is fire, there is smoke. The smoke itself also turned out to have a preservative effect. Smoke consists of hundreds of different substances; some of them kill microorganisms or inhibit their growth. Others slow down fat oxidation. Still others give the fish that incredibly delicious smoky flavour.

That is actually the only reason we still smoke fish today: it tastes so good. If the fish has been smoked with cooled smoke, we call it cold-smoked. That is the smoked salmon you eat on a toast. In this dish, we use hot-smoked salmon; the fish is also cooked directly by the hot smoke.”

Method
Preheat the oven to 160 degrees. Peel the asparagus with a vegetable peeler. Make sure you run the peeler over the surface twice to prevent any tough pieces from remaining. Cut 1 centimetre off the bottom. Place the asparagus in a large saucepan with cold water. Add some salt and bring the water to a boil. As soon as the water boils, turn off the heat and put the lid on the pan. Leave the asparagus to cook for 15 minutes.

While the asparagus is cooking, place a pan with plenty of cold water and some salt on the hob and add the new potatoes. Bring to a boil and cook the potatoes for 10–15 minutes. Drain the potatoes and keep them warm in the pan with the lid on. While the asparagus is cooking, boil the eggs for 6 minutes in boiling water so that the yolks are still just runny. Cool the eggs under cold, gently running water. Peel the eggs and halve them.

Lift the asparagus out of the liquid with a slotted spoon. Warm the pieces of smoked salmon in the oven for 5 minutes until lukewarm. Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the parsley. Remove the skin from the salmon and break the salmon into large pieces. Halve the new potatoes. Mix the asparagus with the potatoes and parsley butter. Season with salt and pepper. Serve the potatoes and asparagus with the salmon on a plate and place half a boiled egg on each plate.

Bart’s Fish Tales
Bart van Olphen
€ 29,99
Carrera culinair