Salmon and cucumber salad

I invented this starter for Sunday lunch this week. I confess it was a little inspired by the crab mousse with smoky ham wafers which I tasted at Les Quatre Saisons restaurant in Sarlat la Caneda (photo right).

For my version I used diced smoked salmon, shredded carrots, chopped red onion and cucumber chunks. Mix all these ingredients in a light mayonnaise with added mustard, lots of dill, olive oil and lemon juice.

First, make some ribbons of cucumber with a potato peeler, as long as possible along the whole length of the cucumber. Wrap these around a yoghurt pot (or anything round, you can find special stainless steel rings in some professional cookery shops which, obviously, is the best and can be used for all sorts of other recipes), three or four ribbons per plate, to make some round cucumber “crowns”. Fill with the salmon and carrot mixture and decorate as you want.