Sous vide salmon with pickled kohlrabi, garden pesto and new potatoes | Recipe by sousvidetools.com

Sous vide salmon with pickled kohlrabi, garden pesto and new potatoes

COOK TIME: 1 hour 30 Minutes
PREP TIME: 20 Minutes
DIFFICULTY: Easy
SERVES: 4

Ingredients

Sous Vide Salmon Fillets

4 salmon fillets, each weighing approx. 130g
1tsp flaky sea salt
1 tsp sugar
1/2tsp fennel seeds
1/2tsp coriander seeds
3tbsp olive oil

Pickled Kohlrabi

1 kohlrabi, weighing approx. 350g
50ml white wine vinegar
150ml water
3tsp salt
1tsp sugar

Garden Pesto

1 bunch curly parsley, small
1 bunch mint, small
1 bunch basil, small
60g pine nuts, toasted
60g parmesan, grated
150ml olive oil, half extra virgin, half normal
1 dash lemon juice
salt
black pepper

New Potatoes

500g baby Charlotte potatoes
1 bunch dill, small

Equipment

Spiraliser
Sous Vide Water Bath
Food Processor
Pestle & Mortar
Vacuum Bags
Sous Vide Vacuum Sealer

Method

This simple sous vide salmon recipe shows off the power of cooking in a water bath, giving the salmon a perfectly tender finish. A quick sear in the pan ensures you don’t have to miss out on delicious crispy skin. The dish is served with lightly pickled kohlrabi, roasted new potatoes and garden pesto for a dish full of contrast and intrigue.

Recipe courtesy of Food Urchin from Great British Chefs

METHOD

To begin, pickle the kohlrabi. To make the pickling liquor, combine the vinegar, water, salt and sugar in a pan and warm so that the salt and sugar dissolves
Slice the top leaves and hardened root area from the kohlrabi then peel the outer layer. Pass through a spiraliser to make long noodles
Submerge the kohlrabi in the pickling liquor and leave for an hour in the fridge
Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4 and set a water bath to 52°C
To cook the potatoes, place them in a pan of water and bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer, cook for 10 minutes then drain and leave to steam for a little while
Tip the potatoes into a roasting tin and lightly press on each one so it squashes and cracks slightly. Drizzle with rapeseed oil and roast for 40 minutes, turning over halfway through
To make the pesto, simply blitz all the ingredients (apart from the oil) in a food processor for a minute or two, then slowly pour in the olive oil until blended
To prepare the salmon, lightly toast the seeds in a dry frying pan then transfer to a pestle and mortar. Roughly grind the seeds down a little
Place each salmon fillet in a vacuum bag with the seeds, salt, sugar and a dash of oil. Seal with a bar sealer
Cook in the water bath for 15 minutes. Once ready, remove the fillets from the bags and drain on kitchen paper
Heat a non-stick pan with a dash of oil until hot then add the salmon skin-side down. Cook until the skin is lightly golden, then remove from the pan
Drain the pickled kohlrabi well and place a nest on each plate. Place some potatoes next to it and add the salmon fillets to each plate. Drizzle over some pesto and serve

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Post by Chris Holland

Our Chef Director Chris Holland worked as Head Chef at the prestigious Alderley Edge hotel before joining us. He has a passion for using the best produce and never compromises on quality. Author of our best selling book Sous Vide The Art of Precision Cooking, Chris is a expert on the sous vide technique.During the later part of my school days at Wardle High School Rochdale I always wanted to be a chef . I knew from the very start that my path to work was never going to be academic it was always going to be something practical and hands on.

As a young boy growing up I was inspired to cook with my Grandma who was and still is an inspiration to me . I have memories of helping make the cakes that she always had made for visitors and family alike . She made the most amazing cakes and I loved nothing more than eating the sweet raw cake batter straight from the bowl . We used to fight over who got to lick the bowl/spoon after the cakes were made. My grandma’s philosophy for cooking even on a shoe string budget was always to use fresh and seasonal ingredients either home grown or bought from the market.

School was somewhat of a drag for me as I was itching to learn to become a chef.

I started at Hopwood Hall college as a chef and instantly fell in love with it .To me it was the only real time I excelled in something and this inspired me to really get my head down and put in the hard work. College was the first time I really excelled in something and gave me the opportunity to laugh at the teachers who said I would never make something of my life!!!!

During the three years at college I also took on a part time position in a local hotel working the bar and restaurant first and then the kitchen. These were great days and gave me the opportunity to see how the industry ticks. I learnt a lot from those days both good and bad !! But I have to say I was itching to work only in the kitchen but it was a good insight into the catering world .

After completing college I moved away from Rochdale for a full time roll at one of Cheshire’s most talked about Hotel restaurants The Stanneylands Hotel. This was the school of hard knocks for me as I quickly realised that although excelling at college meant nothing in “The Real World”.

I loved every minute of the 18 hour days 6 days a week on minimum wage . Although difficult I feel that without this grounding I wouldn’t have achieved what I have today. After 18 months of hard graft I left Stanneylands and went with the Head chef to open a fine dining restaurant at Mere Golf and Country Club. The opportunity to work alongside Matthew Barrett was too good to turn down. I learnt so much from the ex-Ritz chef and working in a much slower paced role helped me develop a much better understanding of how to organise and run a kitchen. We were a very small team and teamwork was and still is the only way to go for me.

After 2 years at Mere I got the opportunity to go into The Alderley Edge Hotel as Junior Souschef. The Early days at the Edge were all about learning new styles of cuising which is invaluable in any role as a chef. I got the opportunity to grow and learn all aspects of every section which was inspiring . I was offered the opportunity at the age of 29 (2004) to take the role of head chef. For me this was when I really started to develop my own style of food.

After 9 years at the top winning Cheshire restaurant of the year , Chef of the Year and appearing on GBM amongst many highlights including cooking for many celebrities and famous people I decided to move on into development with Sousvidetools.

The main inspiration for this was to train and educate people . I always had a great passion for education but could never really see myself at a college . The job is super rewarding and I am proud to say we have become the leading light in sous-vide education in the UK . This is something I am very proud of . Food is my biggest passion and this is what keeps me interested the most . I love to travel and try out other countries cuisines. I am constantly inspired by ingredients and the pursuit of getting the best out of them without destroying their natural flavour .It is super important to me to continue to try and be at the forefront of the food scene this is what inspire me and the team to keep driving forward .

Technology is now widely used in the industry and I am super proud to say we have been a big part of spreading that message.

I am very lucky to be in the position I am and the drive to constantly improve our training and links to the next generation of young budding hospitality chefs.

TI feel that my experience over the last 25 years really enables me to get close and educate the “next generation” of chefs .

The industry which I love is really struggling to bring through new recruits and if I can help that process I will be immensely proud.

The food seen in the Uk has improved dramatically over the last ten years and I feel this will continue with the correct education. What happens next only fate will tell us...

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