Smoked salmon with a whisky glaze and hollandaise sauce combine to create a luxurious treat to help take away the winter blues.
When it comes to enjoying comfort food, there’s nothing quite like indulging yourself by using some luxury ingredients.
Smoked salmon, homemade soda bread and hollandaise sauce most definitely come into that category.
“We serve Prestonfield’s Eggs Royale for breakfast, but it is great for brunch and it’s one of my favourite comfort foods at this time of year,” says James Thomson, owner of Prestonfield House and The Witchery in Edinburgh who have kindly provided this recipe for you to try.
And remember if you like this recipe, you can find all of our Comfort Food Friday recipes by clicking here.
Prestonfield’s Glenkinchie Cured Smoked Salmon Eggs Royale
Ingredients
Smoked salmon:
- 1kg salmon
Brine mix:
- 5 litres of water
- 400g salt
- 400g sugar
- 7g fennel seed
- 3g bay
- 3g thyme
- whisky to taste
Method
- Make the brine by bringing all of the ingredients to a simmer in a pan and allow to cool.
- Skin the salmon and place it in the brine for 24 hours. Then pat dry and allow to become tacky and brush the sides with whisky, Glenkinchie preferably.
- Smoke the salmon in a portable smoker or smolder a handful of oak smoking chips in a heavy roasting tray then cover with a damp cloth to extinguish any flame.
- Place the salmon on another roasting tray inside the first roasting tray and cover with kitchen foil and leave for approximately two hours. Once smoked trim and portion the salmon.
Glaze:
- 100ml Glenkinchie whisky
- 200ml water
- 1tbsp honey
- 100g demerara sugar
Method
- Place all ingredients into a pan and cook on a medium heat until reduced down to a glaze. Use to glaze the salmon before serving.
Dark soda bread
Ingredients
- 500g wholemeal flour
- 420g strong flour
- 100g pinhead oatmeal
- 150g butter
- 55g bicarbonate of soda
- 45g baking powder
- 20g salt
- 200g honey
- 150g crème fraiche
- 850g milk
Method
- Pre-heat your oven to 185 degrees.
- If you have one, place all the ingredients in a food mixer and combine. You can do this by hand by adding the dry ingredients to the wet and mixing but it will take a bit longer.
- Form the dough into your desired shape or loaf tin and bake for 35 minutes. This recipe will make 3-4 loaves and they can be frozen once they are baked.
Hollandaise sauce
Ingredients
- 1 block of unsalted butter
- Splash of homemade tarragon vinegar (or white wine vinegar)
- 4 egg yolks
- 1tbsp of boiling water
- Squeeze of lemon juice
- Sea salt
- To garnish (optional):
- Small dice preserved lemon
- Crushed pink peppercorns
- Chopped chives
Method
- Melt the butter in a pan and put to one side but keep warm.
- Place the eggs, vinegar and boiling water in a bowl and whisk over a Bain Marie. Remove from time to time as not to overcook the eggs.
- When the eggs are at the ribbon stage (when you can trail a figure of 8 in the eggs) slowly add in the melted butter constantly whisking until all is incorporated, season with the salt and lemon.
To assemble:
Warm or toast a slice of the soda bread, then layer a generous amount of salmon on top of the bread and dot a few small pieces of the preserved lemon on top of the salmon. Top with a poached egg cooked to your liking, coat with the hollandaise and garnish with chopped chives and crushed pink peppercorns.
More in this series …
Comfort Food Friday: Warm up throughout winter with this deliciously simple cottage pie