• Smoked salmon & avocado sandwich with wasabi

    Smoked salmon sandwich w wasabi

    A good sandwich is a joyous thing.

    It’s easy to prepare but therein lays the trap, folk are far too blasé about the commitment or conceptual understanding required – the simple sandwich is also easy to get wrong. A mish-mash of ‘salad’ ingredients set between two slices of sticky soft white bread (that ends up stuck around your front teeth) does not constitute a sandwich.
    Pull back the number of ingredients but up the flavour component by choosing especially tasty fillings and enhancing those with a well-flavoured dressing or spread. Choose bread that can fulfil its support role with aplomb. I like the plump Italian ‘ciabatta’ that my local French baker makes. It is openly textured and bouncy – thickly cut slices will stand up to being handled without flapping open or squashing unappetisingly into the filling. The bread also has a delicious nutty flavour that adds a nice background note to the other flavours.
    Either smoked salmon or ocean trout is good. You could even use flakes of hot-smoked salmon or trout. The dressing is the key to success and the wasabi gives everything an agreeable spiciness. You can easily adjust the amount to suit your taste. I found a tube of grated wasabi which was quite mild, convenient for being able to adjust the spicy kick just so. The tasty dressing has a myriad uses – pop it on prawns, crayfish, grilled fresh salmon, trevalla, even chicken. Enjoy your luncheon with a glass of 2007 Lalla Gully Pinot Gris

    The Recipe

    Smoked salmon sandwich with wasabi dressing
    1 loaf Italian-style bread, cut into generous slices butter for the bread
    slices of smoked salmon
    spring onions, white and pale green part, finely sliced
    1-2 firm but ripe avocado, sliced
    Butter the bread slices lightly. Cover half with slices of smoked salmon. Top with a few slices spring onion. Lay some avocado slices over these. Grind over black pepper. Drizzle with the dressing and pop the other slice of bread on top. Cut in half at an oblique angle.

    For the dressing:
    half cup Bests mayonnaise (blue lid)
    half cup King Island crème fraiche (or sour cream)
    squeeze lemon
    2 tsp (or more to suit your taste) grated wasabi paste
    1 tbsp finely chopped chives or dill
    salt to taste
    Mix everything well together, starting with 1 tsp of wasabi paste and gradually increasing it until you get the right spicy note.