Ocean Trout – slow cooked with sorrel sauce, herb oil, mayonnaise and finger lime caviar pearls

I thought you might like to try this dish now that sorrel is back in season.  It looks like a long recipe, but it may be prepared in stages and is really very simple.  It is a perfect dish for Spring and Summertime entertaining.
Serves 8
8 x 120g ocean trout fillet, sashimi grade, pin boned, skin off

Sorrel sauce
100g butter
6 eschallot, peeled and thinly sliced
3 tsp garlic, peeled, diced and made into a paste
200ml Noilly Prat or Dry Vermouth
1L fish stock, heated
220g English spinach, washed
220g sorrel, washed and de-veined
100g butter
1½ tbsp lemon juice, to taste
Herb oil
1 bunch flat leaf parsley, leaves picked
1 bunch chives, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon salt
250ml olive oil
Garnish
10 lemons, finely sliced
Chiffonade of baby sorrel leaves
Finger lime caviar pearls

Sorrel sauce:
You can make this sauce when the sorrel is at its best, and freeze it.
Melt butter in a medium size sauteuse pan, add eschallots and sweat without covering, over medium heat for 10 minutes; add the garlic paste, and cook another few minutes.
Add Noilly Prat and cook for 1 minute. Turn up the heat before adding the fish stock and bring to a rapid boil for 1 minute.
Add spinach, toss and immediately transfer to a blender and purée sauce until smooth.
Add sorrel to purée in the blender and blend for a few seconds. Add butter to emulsify and blend until smooth. Add the lemon juice.
Season to taste and add more lemon juice if necessary.

Ocean trout
Pre-heat oven to 90°C.
Lightly oil the fish, sprinkle with salt flakes and freshly cracked pepper, place on baking tray, lined with baking paper and cook for 10 – 15 minutes, or until cooked to your liking. Remove from oven.

To serve: Warm the sorrel sauce on low heat, no more than 80˚C, to avoid losing colour.
Pour some sauce onto the pate, sit the trout on top. Garnish with a dollop of mayonnaise, a thin, round lemon slice, some finger lime caviar pearls and sprinkle with a chiffonade of sorrel around the trout in the sauce. Drizzle the herb oil around the trout, in the sauce.

Herb Oil
Blend herbs and salt in a blender, add oil and blend until smooth.
Transfer purée to a saucepan and cook on very low heat for 30 minutes. Use a thermometer to ensure temperature of 50°C.

Classic Mayonnaise
Makes 2 about 300ml

Ingredients
2 egg yolks
1 tsp Dijon mustard
½ tsp salt, optional
¼ tsp white wine vinegar 1½ – 2 tbsp lemon juice
250ml light olive oil
120ml extra virgin olive oil, avocado or macadamia nut oil

Before starting to make the mayonnaise make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature. If the oil is cold, heat it to tepid.
Use a medium sized, clean and dry, warm bowl and rest it on a warm, damp cloth to stop it slipping.
Separate the eggs, reserve the whites for another use.
Work egg yolks with whisk for 2 minutes until they are thick and sticky.
Add the Dijon mustard, salt, vinegar and one tablespoon of the lemon juice and whisk until very thick, at least 30 seconds. This is an important part of the process as it begins the forming of the emulsion.
Now the eggs are ready for the oil. Combine the oils in a jug. Wrap a tea towel around the base of your bowl to stop it from moving and very slowly drip the oil in, drop by drop, whisking constantly, until creamy and thick. As the mixture thickens, and you have added about half the oil, you may increase the oil additions to a very thin trickle until it is all added.
Adjust the seasonings and add extra lemon juice or water if needed.

For saffron mayonnaise: add 4 -5 saffron threads to the olive oils and allow to infuse for a few minutes, and make as above.