Recipe: Cauliflower and Smoked Salmon Moelleux

Name: Cauliflower and Smoked Salmon Moelleux
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 90 min
Ingredients: 400 g (14 oz) cauliflower florets; 80 g (2.8 oz) smoked salmon cut into small mirepoix (small dice); 2 dl liquid cream; 1 egg + 1 egg yolk; 1 small cooked beet; 5 g (0.2 oz) pink peppercorns; 30 g (1.1 oz) salmon roe (optional); fine salt, freshly ground pepper; 4 cl (1.4 fl oz) balsamic vinegar; chervil or parsley leaves

By chef patrick Asfaux 4.9/5 (12 reviews) · 🍳 4 made it

Prep 45 min

Cook 45 min

Total 1h30

A personal recipe that will demonstrate the evolution in the consumption of a product considered "common". Starting with a bit of history: cauliflowers arrived on French market stalls during the 17th century, coming directly from the port of Genoa from the distant East. Master Olivier de Serres already noted these beautiful vegetables under Henri IV, naming them by their Italian names "cauli fiori". The first recipes were developed by King Louis XIV's chef who created for the royal table a cauliflower dish seasoned with strong taste with salt and mace (nutmeg bark) and served with fresh butter.

Ingredients

400 g (14 oz) cauliflower florets
80 g (2.8 oz) smoked salmon cut into small mirepoix (small dice)
2 dl liquid cream
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
1 small cooked beet
5 g (0.2 oz) pink peppercorns
30 g (1.1 oz) salmon roe (optional)
fine salt, freshly ground pepper
4 cl (1.4 fl oz) balsamic vinegar
chervil or parsley leaves

Step-by-step directions

1 Wash your cauliflower florets. If you have a steamer or couscous maker, cook them for 8 minutes (preferable) otherwise in salted boiling water for the same time.

2 Remove your cauliflowers and let them cool, keeping 12 small heads for final decoration.

3 In your blender, put your cauliflower, 1 dl liquid cream, the egg + egg yolk, fine salt, a little nutmeg, and freshly ground pepper. blend everything for 2 minutes then transfer to a bowl.

4 Preheat oven to 180° (th6).

5 At the bottom of each mold place your salmon dice and fill them with the cauliflower mixture. Place them on a shallow dish whose bottom will be covered with newspaper (to prevent boiling) add hot water to your pan (bain marie) and put everything in the oven for 35 minutes.

6 During cooking, prepare your little beet coulis: in the blender put the beet cut into large dice, 1 dl remaining cream, salt, pepper, add the balsamic vinegar, blend for 2 minutes and transfer.

7 Check the cooking of the moelleux as usual with the tip of a knife which should come out hot and dry then remove them from the bain-marie and let cool to room temperature.