Lazy Days: Cooking with Gin Mare

Someone to impress? Self-confessed foodie? Then this luxurious gin infused salmon dish is for you. Created by Michelin star chef Mark Sargeant and inspired by Mediterranean Gin Mare, the unique savoury botanicals found in the premium gin pair beautifully with the fresh pan fried salmon, medley of sea vegetable and rich butter sauce. Your Sunday evening just got fancy.

Pan Fried Salmon with Sea Vegetables, Samphire and Crushed Celeriac with a Gin Mare Butter Sauce

Makes six portions

Ingredients

6 salmon fillets, scaled and pinned
300g mix of sea vegetables (sea kale, sea aster, sea beet etc.)
150g Samphire
1 Lg celeriac peeled and diced into1 inch cubes milk just to cover celeriac
2 sprigs thyme
1 bay leaf
100g butter
Pinch of celery salt
Vegetable oil for cooking
Salt & freshly milled white pepper

Method

In a pan add the celeriac, thyme, Bay. Cover with milk and simmer until the celeriac is well cooked, strain the celeriac removing the bay leaves and thyme stalks. Reserve the milk. Melt the butter in the same pan; add the celeriac back in, season with the salt and pepper and sauté for 2 mins to allow the celeriac to dry slightly.

Pulse in a blender in until course (not too smooth), adjust the consistency with the reserved milk if needed. Season with celery salt and keep warm.

Heat a non stick pan until medium hot, add a little vegetable oil and gently place the salmon fillets in, skin side down. Keep them cooking gently until the colour has changed half way un the side of the fish (this is all about controlling the temperature to not burn the skin but still get it crispy and cook the fish half way). Turn the heat off, turn the fish over and leave in the pan, the residual heat will finish cooking the fish through.

In boiling salted water add the sea vegetables and cook for 2 minutes, remove and add the Samphire and cook for 1 minute.

For the Gin Mare Butter Sauce

Reduction: can be made up to a week in advance and kept in the fridge

25g butter
2 shallots sliced
5g peppercorns
250ml white wine vinegar
150ml gin mare
Handful of basil stalks

Cook the shallots in the butter until soft, add the peppercorns, vinegar and basil stalks and reduce by half, add the gin and reduce again by half. Strain.

Finishing the sauce:
2 tbsp reduction
100ml chicken stock
1 tbsp cream
250g unsalted butter
2 tbsp gin mare

Bring the reduction and chicken stock to the boil and reduce by a third, add the cream and then gradually whisk in the butter to form an emulsion.

Season and finish with the gin mare. Don’t boil the sauce or the butter will split!

To serve, neatly arrange the hot celeriac and sea vegetables in a warm bowl, top off with the salmon and scatter over the Samphire, serve the butter sauce on the side to pour as needed.

Visit www.ginmare.com for more recipe and cocktail inspiration.