Consultant and celebrity chef Peter Gorton and Masterchef of Great Britain is one of the best-known chefs in the south west of England.Peter has many years of Michelin Star experience and provides consultancy services to hotels and restaurants. He also runs a very successful outside catering business. He has worked extensively with schools in food education and his latest venture in 2011,Peter opened his restaurant Gorton’s in Tavistock Devon.
Peter began his culinary career in 1980 at the age of 16 and trained at some of the finest restaurants in the UK and around the world, from three years at The Walnut Tree in Abergavenny with Franco Taruschio and his wife Ann, Peter learnt there that hard work isn’t enough to create good food. Teamwork in a happy environment allowed everything to come together. Then to Bath and The Priory again under a great chef called Michael Collom. Next his move to London at The Hilaire in Old Brompton Street and the head chef Simon Hopkinson who was a truly inspirational figure to many young chefs. Then Peter went travelling to Burnham Beaches Hotel in Melbourne Australia and The Jamin in Paris. Finally Peter settled for over twenty years in Devon as proprietor of the Carved Angel restaurants and cafes in Exeter, Taunton and Dartmouth and The Horn of Plenty Country House Hotel & Restaurant near Tavistock in Devon all of which were sold in 2010.
At Gorton’s first and foremost the most delicious quality food is served, imaginatively created by Peter using the freshest ingredients from a host of the finest producers in the Westcountry. This is why Peter’s book is called ‘Devon Food Heroes’ which Peter and Adrian Oaks the photographer published in 2012 with recipes from Peter and stories from the food producer heroes in Devon. This Autumn Peter has another lovely new book published with all his signature recipes and again Adrian Oakes is the photographer.
Smoked salmon mousse with pickled cucumber salad, tomato jellyIngredients
Mousse
- 140g smoked salmon
- 50ml Noilly Prat vermouth
- 2 leaves gelatine, soaked in cold water
- Lemon juice
- 225ml whipping cream, beaten to the ribbon stage
- 50ml sour cream
- 1 teaspoon horseradish cream (optional)
Pickled Cucumbers
- 1 cucumber cut in half lengthway
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ thinly sliced red onion
- 60g thinly sliced fennel (optional)
- 60ml rice wine vinegar
- 100g sugar
- Salt & pepper
Tomato Jelly
- 600g ripe tomatoes
- 200ml fish stock
- 200ml passata
- 3 egg whites
- 1 small leek, finely chopped
- ½ tablespoon Pernod
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 5 sheets gelatine, soaked in cold water
Chive Cream
- 250ml whipping cream
- 85g horseradish cream
- 25g Dijon mustard
- 140g natural yoghurt
- 55g chives, finely chopped
- Juice of 1 lemon
- Salt & Cayenne pepper
Method
Mousse
- Have ready six ramekins 6 cm x 5 cm deep. Brush the insides of ramekins with olive oil. In a food processor cut the smoked
- salmon to a fine paste or pureé. Refrigerate.
- Pour the Noilly prat into a shallow pan with the fish stock and reduce by half, add the gelatine and remove from the stove,
- allow to cool. Beat up the whipping cream to a ribbon stage, set aside.
- Add the fish stock and gelatine reduction to the smoked salmon pureé and process until well mixed. Add lemon juice to taste. Fold in the sour cream and whipping cream and pour into the ramekins and chill in a refrigerator for at least 4 hours.
Pickled Cucumbers
- Scrape the seeds from the cucumber, discard the seeds and shave the cucumber into long strips with a vegetable peeler or slicer. Place the bay leaves, vinegar, sugar and chilli in a saucepan and simmer for 5 minutes. Strain and cool. Combine the cucumbers, onion, fennel, salt and pepper and cooled vinegar mixture and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
- These cucumbers will keep in the refrigerator for up to one week.
Tomato Jelly
- Cut the tomatoes into small pieces and process in a blender until smooth. Pass through a fine mesh sieve, mix with the fish stock, passata and egg whites, and bring the chopped leek, Pernod and white wine vinegar to the boil in a saucepan, bring up to a boil then turn down to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes, make a little hole in the egg whites to allow the steam to be released.
- When the tomato stock looks clear remove it from the heat and pass through a muslin cloth in a strainer and add the soaked gelatine. Mix well and allow to cool. Pour on top of the smoked salmon mousse, return to the fridge until set
Chive Cream
- Liquidise all these ingredients and strain through a fine sieve, it will keep for 3 days.
To Serve
- Turn out the mousses in the centre of each plate, top each mousse with some pickled cucumber and mixed tiny salad leaves.
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