Eel really does lend itself amazingly to charcuterie and this stuff from The Devon Eel company will make a great starter. Simple to execute, most of the work is already done by utilising an array of amazing preserved ingredients with addition of some ripe summer tomatoes and broad beans. Seaweed adds flavour and complexity to salad and links the protein element to the vegetables. To finish the dish, I fall back on one of my favourite preserves, black mustard seeds pickled in a balsamic vinegar.
SMOKED EEL & TEMPUS SMOKED COPPA. SERVED WITH BROAD BEANS, TOMATOES AND SEAWEED
Serves 2
Ingredients
- x2 smoked eel fillets approx. 6 inches
- x1 pack 75g Tempus smoked Coppa
- 50g Tempus cold smoked guanciale
- Handful of ripe cherry tomatoes
- 100g of frozen peeled broad beans
- 10g of dried wakame seaweed
- 20g Baby capers
- Good olive oil
- Maldon salt
- Fresh lime
- Pickled mustard seeds
Method
- Layout coppa slices to the same length and twice the width of the eel fillet
- Roll tightly in cling film and refrigerate
- Dice the guanciale into chunky lardon
- Gently fry in a non stick pan to allow oil to render and lardons to crisp
- Whilst the lardons are cooking add the wakame to warm water to re-hydrate
- Remove the lardons and place on kitchen paper – do not discard lardon fat
- Remove the cling film from the eel and gently fry in lardon fat on both sides until crisp – remove and place on kitchen paper
- Slice the tomatoes into quarters and warm in the pan with the broad beans, capers and the drained wakame
- Gently warm in the oil until the beans have warmed through, then season with lime, olive oil and salt
- Slice the wrapped eel neatly at the edges and cut into 2 pieces.
- Serve the fillets with a spoonful of the broad bean salad and garnish of pickled mustard seeds.