Food: Hot-smoked ocean trout with green salad.

Serves 8

Trout

• 200g flaked salt

• 200g raw sugar

• 1 side ocean trout (about 1-1.2kg), skin on, pinboned

• ½ cup smoking shavings/sawdust

1. Combine the salt and sugar. Take a long impervious container (glass, plastic, stainless steel), line it with half the salt mix and lie the fish flesh-side down.

Pack the rest of the salt mix on top of the fillet. Cover and weight it (I use a house brick wrapped in foil). Refrigerate overnight.

2. Remove the fish from the cure and rinse it under cold water. Pat dry and return to the refrigerator, uncovered, for at least three hours, to dry a little.

3. Line your wok with foil, add the smoking shavings/sawdust. Place over high heat to heat the sawdust to combustion point. Position a rack in the wok and place the fish on the rack. Quickly set fire to your wood chips with a long match or lighter and immediately cover the wok snuggly with foil. Turn to a medium heat and cook for about 20 minutes or until the fish is just cooked through.

Salad

• 1 butter lettuce

• 1 baby endive lettuce

• 2 Lebanese cucumbers

• 100ml vinaigrette (25ml sherry vinegar, 25ml olive oil, 50ml grapeseed oil)

• 200ml crème fraîche

• 2 Granny Smith apples

• 1 stick celery

• salt and pepper

• 1 bunch chives, chopped

1. Separate and wash and dry the lettuce leaves.

2. Cut cucumbers into a small dice.

3. Mix half the vinaigrette into the crème fraîche and set aside.

4. Place the lettuce on a platter big enough to hold the side of fish. Scatter with the cucumber and dress with the remainder of the vinaigrette.

5. Place the hot-smoked side of fish on the bed of lettuce.

6. Julienne the apple and celery, mix with crème fraîche mixture, season with salt and pepper and arrange down the centre of the fish. Scatter with the chopped chives.