Irish salmon, crawfish, samphire and country butter

Ingredients

• 4 x 160g salmon portions, skin on and pin boned, your fish monger will happily do this for you
• 280g samphire
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped chives
• 2 shallots finely chopped 
• 32 Crawfish 

Buerre Blanc

• 2 shallots finely chopped
• 60mls white wine vinegar
• 60mls white wine
• 125g cold unsalted country butter , cut into small chunks, I like to use Glenilen
• Salt and freshly ground white pepper
• Chives finely chopped, to garnish 

Method

Salmon 

• Place heavy based frying pan on a high heat.
• Season the salmon with salt and pepper, and add some vegetable oil to the pan
• Carefully place the fish into the pan and pan fry for 3 minutes (until golden) on one side.
• Place on roasting tray and finish cooking in pre-heated oven at 190 degrees for 5-6 mins or until cooked through.

Crawfish

• Steam for one minute and remove from its shell
• When ready to serve, gently warm the meat in some butter and lemon juice  

Samphire

• Blanch the Samphire for 2 minutes in boiling salted water and plunge into iced water to refresh.
• When ready to serve gently fry in a little olive oil

Buerre Blanc

• For the beurre blanc, place the shallots, vinegar, wine and 60ml water into a saucepan. Set over a moderate heat until almost no liquid remains.
• Turn the heat down to a low setting and whisk in the butter one piece at a time, allowing each piece to melt and homogenise before adding the next (it is also a good idea to occasionally take the pan off the heat, then returning it when it is becoming too cool.) Once all the butter has been used the sauce should be pale and have a thin, custard-like consistency. Keep warm.
• Spoon the sauce over samphire and crawfish and garnish with chives.

Chef’s tips

• Make sure the fish is dry and the pan is hot to stop the fish from sticking  
• This dish also works well with any type of fish, ask your fish monger which fish is the freshest