Not Just a Man's World

This was a bit of an experiment.  The mousse doesn’t look too appealing in this photo because I was making it into salmon parcels and rolls (see the bottom of this recipe for directions) and could afford to use cheaper pink salmon which resulted in a greyish colour.  If you are presenting this on its own then you’ll want to use a better quality red salmon that has a deeper pinkish-red colour.

Salmon mousse

Ingredients (serves 4-6):
1 large tin salmon
3 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tbsp dill, finely chopped
Juice of half a lemon

Directions:

1. Place the salmon and mayonnaise into a bowl and mix thoroughly with a hand blender (or pulse into a paste using a food processor).  If the mix is too solid add another half tablespoon to the mousse and remix.  Continue adding small amounts of mayonnaise until the mousse is smooth but still firm enough to hold its shape on the spoon.
2. Add the lemon juice and dill and stir it in thoroughly.  Taste and add additional lemon juice as required to remove the creamy heaviness of the mayonnaise but without adding so much that it tastes of lemon juice.
3. Keep chilled until you are ready to serve it up to prevent it getting too “loose”.

Serving suggestion – salmon parcels:

To make salmon parcels simply lay out a thin slice of smoked salmon onto a board, place a small spoon of mousse into the centre of the slice.  Then carefully fold the sides of the smoked salmon into the centre, ensuring that they overlap slightly but cutting off any excess with scissors.  Turn the parcel over carefully so that the overlap is in the centre of the bottom of the parcel and place on a plate to serve.

Salmon rolls and a salmon parcel as part of a seafood platter

Serving suggestion – salmon roll slices:

As for the salmon parcels, lay out a thin slice of smoked salmon onto a board, ensuring the board is covered in a layer of cling-film.  Cut along one long side to create a straight edge.  Place some mousse in a column down the side of the slice just in from the cut edge and then carefully lift the flat edge over the mousse column and roll into a tube with the mousse at the centre.  Once the smoked salmon starts to overlap, cut the excess off with scissors ensuring there is just a small overlap of about 5mm.

Carefully lift the edge of the cling-film and use this to wrap the salmon roll.  Next, place the wrapped roll on a baking tray or Tupperware box lid in the freezer until the roll is solid.

Once the roll is solid (should take about 30 mins) remove the roll from the cling-film and slice it into inch-wide pieces (without freezing the roll first, the salmon roll will squash and collapse).  Place the slices onto a plate to serve and either leave them out of the fridge until defrosted if you are making them the same day you are eating them or place in the fridge to defrost slowly if you are making them a day in advance.

Related posts:

1. Paleo recipes: chocolate and orange mousse
2. Paleo kitchen experiments: chocolate mousse
3. Paleo recipes: French onion soup
4. Paleo recipes: grilled goat’s cheese