16 Dec smoked salmon platter

As the race towards Christmas is well and truly, your social diary is probably bursting at the seams. As we all go cuckoo for Christmas, we need light suppers or something simple to bring to a potluck supper spread.

One of the most beautiful of our native Irish ingredients and culinary traditions is our smoked salmon. To me, Christmas isn’t complete without a platter of smoked salmon. It’s a time to splash out and get the best smoked salmon that you can get. Seek out artisanally produced smoked salmon, of which there is plenty to choose from in Ireland.

One of my favourites is The Burren Smokehouse (www.burrensmokehouse.com), run by Peter and Birgitta Curtin from their smokehouse in The Burren. Their smoked Irish organic salmon is widely available nationwide, stocked by Sheridan’s Cheesemongers and most good food delis.

The Connemara Smokehouse (www.smokehouse.ie) sits atop Bunowen Pier at the edge of west Connemara. John and Bridget Roberts founded the company in 1979, and their son Graham is now at the helm of the smoking kiln. They source their wild atlantic salmon from local Connemara fishermen, while their organic salmon is from Clare Island and their farmed salmon comes from small Atlantic farms.

Frank Hederman near Cobh in County Cork is an exceptional smokehouse with a beautiful and informative website (www.frankhederman.com) and Kinvara Smoked Salmon (www.kinvarasmokedsalmon.com) counts food writer Nigel Slater among their fans. The last day for online orders within Ireland for their organic smoked salmon is Monday 19^th of December.

So, you see, there is plenty to choose from when it comes to smoked Irish salmon. Make sure you get the best for you and yours whether it’s for a speedy supper to keep you going between socialising or for a platter to bring with you to next next gathering.

Smoked Salmon Platter

Ingredients

For the dressing

3 tablespoons of rapeseed oil

1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar

1 tablespoon of freshly squeezed orange juice

1 tablespoon of honey

Salt

Pepper

For the platter

About 200g of smoked salmon

2 radishes

1 cooked beetroot

Half a small shallot

Half an orange

3 tablespoons of soft goat’s cheese

Handful of fresh dill

Rye crispbreads or soda bread, to serve

Method

1. Make your dressing by mixing together the rapeseed oil, red wine vinegar, orange juice and honey. Add a pinch of salt and pepper and mix well. Set aside.

2. Arrange the smoked salmon on a platter.

3. Finely slice the radishes. Finely slice the cooked beetroot into thin rounds. Peel the shallot and finely slice.

4. Cut the orange in half. Peel one half and then slice the flesh into segments. Slice the other half of the orange, with the skin on, into segments and set aside.

5. Arrange the radish, beetroot, shallot and peeled orange segments on top of the salmon.

6. Add dollops of the soft goat’s cheese around the salmon.

7. Arrange the fresh dill around the platter.

8. Just before serving, drizzle about two tablespoons of your dressing over the salmon. Serve the rest of the dressing on the side, alongside rye crispbreads or thick slices of soda bread, and the unpeeled orange segments for squeezing.

Storecupboard Essentials: Crispbreads and Crackers

To me, Christmas means cheese and crackers. Recently I’ve been having trouble controlling myself around Peter’s Yard crackers, particularly their Swedish-style sourdough crispbread crackers. Pick up a packet in Fallon & Byrne in Dublin or find out more on www.petersyard.com.

This recipe first appeared in The Irish Independent on Thursday 15th of December 2016