Fine dining: Arctic char, green peas & pickled onion

This is a really fresh dish for the summer. Arctic char is one of my favorites when it comes to fish. It’s very tasty and also quite easy to work with. As usual when it comes to fish, I use fresh fish for my recipes. The recipes are written in an order that I had chosen to execute them. Carefully read through the entire recipe before you begin. 

4 people

Pickled red onion 

4 small red onions

1 dl vinegar (in Sweden we have this one called ”ättika”)

1 dl liquid honey or any other sweetener (may be excluded)

3 dl water

Mix vinegar, sweetener and water in a saucepan and bring to boil. Peel the onion and cut it in half, from root to tip. Pick down the onion layer by layer and cover the onion with the warm liquid. Let stand at least an hour, but preferably overnight for a more beautiful color and more intense flavor. 

Cream of green peas 

500 g frozen green peas

salt

Lower the frozen peas rapidly in boiling water. Repeat twice. This is called blanching. Mix the peas in a food processor at the highest speed until the cream is smooth. Season with salt. For a really smooth cream, pass through a fine sieve. Gently heat the cream just before serving. The beautiful green color easily becomes military green when keeping warm. 

Baked arctic char 

4 small fillets of arctic char

oil for the baking tray

seasalt

Preheat the oven to 150°C/302°F. Sprinkle some oil in an ovenproof tray, gently salt the arctic char and place the fillets in the tray with the skin side up. Bake for about 9 minutes, or until the inside temperature is 40°C/104°C. Gently peel off the skin of the fish. 

For serving, you need sliced cucumber (use a cheese slicer!), trout roe and some fresh herbs – in my case dill, garden cress and nasturtium.

Peter Olsson, ”Chefabetic” 

Recipe published 16th of June 2016