This is my favourite, quick, main meal salad.
Originally it was composed of only three ingredients – hot smoked ocean trout, cucumber and tomato. In that simple form it is still a delight. This time I’ve tweaked the idea with crumbled Persian fetta and chives.There should have been finely sliced radish too, but I forgot, so the baby radishes ended up as first class snack food instead. You can try the salad with or without, depending on your fancy for radishes. They seem to polarise people and in this modern world of dumbed down food are not as widely eaten as they were in my grandmother’s day. She loved them, so do I. The traditional way to enjoy radishes, apart from au naturel, is to cut them in half, spread with cultured butter and sprinkle with salt.
So to the salad without radishes… If you have a very good green grocer in your area or are a happy vegetable gardener use yellow or even green tomatoes rather than red. They are very tasty and make the finished dish look light and pretty. On a hot day this is quite soothing. On that theme I sliced the chives into tiny rounds rather than just the casual snip into short lengths. It was a nice touch.
You should be able to buy Persian style fetta (creamier than the usual) at your local deli. It is likely to come in olive oil in a bulk tub. There is also an excellent Yarra Valley Dairy Persian Fetta available in a small tin. Whichever you go for, buy more than you need for the salad and enjoy the best summer breakfast treat – toast thick slices of ciabatta or sourdough and while warm spread with Persian fetta. Top that with some torn basil leaves and then slices of well-seasoned yellow tomatoes.
Enjoy with Argiolas fragrant vermentino 2006 Argiolas Costamolino Vermentino
The Recipe
Ocean trout, cucumber and tomato salad (serves 2-3)
250-300g hot smoked ocean trout, skin removed
1 long Lebanese cucumber, peeled and cut into small chunks
2-3 ripe yellow tomatoes, cut in half and then sliced into half rounds
handful chives, sliced into fine rounds
Persian fetta, crumbled
baby radishes, finely sliced (optional)
For the dressing:
juice of half a large lemon
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
Flake the hot smoked ocean trout. Gently toss it with the cucumber, tomatoes and chives in a large bowl. Add the fetta, pour over the dressing and toss lightly again. Arrange on serving plates.
