Marinated rainbow trout

Ingredients:

• 2 fillets of rainbow trout (á 200 g)

Spicy marinade:
• 150 g sea salt
• 80 g sugar
• ½ tsp fennel seeds
• ½ tsp coriander seeds
• ½ tbsp. black peppercorns
• ½ tsp pink peppercorns
• 1 bay leaf
• 5 juniper berries
• ½ tsp aniseed
• Zest of 2 lemons
• Dried apple peel (from about 5 apples)

“Crunchy soil”:
• 250 g dark rye bread
• 80 g walnut kernels
• 20 ml walnut oil
• Sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 Granny Smith apples (or similar tart variety of apple)
• 5 radishes
• 1 kohlrabi
• 1 small celery

Fruity olive oil:
• 100 ml by Gölles apple balsamic vinegar (matured in an oak barrel for 8 years)
• 1½ sheet of gelatine
• Cress of various colours (daikon / sakura)

Preparation:

Prepare the trout fillets, remove bones if necessary and blot dry with kitchen roll. For the fish marinade, mix salt and sugar with all spices (brown in a pan without oil just before use!), the dried apple peel and the lemon zest until the marinade is a fine powdery mixture. Rub the marinade into both sides of the fish fillets, cover with cling film and leave to marinate for 2 to 3 hours. Remove the marinade with cold water and blot the fillets dry. Leave in a cold place. Warm up the apple balsamic vinegar together with the soaked and wrung sheets of gelatine, pour into a dish (height of about 1 cm) lined with cling film and leave to chill. Once the jelly has set, cut into squares of exact 1 cm length at each side. Keep in a cool place. For the “crunchy soil“, cut the dark rye bread into chunks and mix with walnut kernels, walnut oil and a good pinch of salt. Spread evenly on a flat baking tray and roast at 160°C until crunchy and golden brown. Leave to cool and, using a hard object (e.g. meat tenderiser); turn the mixture into ”soil“. Cut radishes, kohlrabi, Granny Smith and celery into decorative shapes (spires, sticks, rhombuses, etc.), parboil the celery in salt water for a short time and then add salt, pepper and olive oil to marinate all the vegetables.

Presentation:

Sprinkle the “crunchy soil“ on a flat plate. Skin the marinated rainbow trout (the skin can be fried until crisp and used as garnish!) and cut in thin tranches. Arrange together with the shaped vegetables on the “crunchy soil“ and use cress of various colours to give this starter the finishing touch.