Smoked eel is a delicacy in Germany and the Netherlands; full of Omega 3. Not only is smoked eel utterly delicious; the filets are always quick and easy to add to recipes. Make sure you buy from a sustainable stockist, ready to enjoy for tasty brunches at home.

Smoked and roasted eel served with tea consommé

Serves 2

Ingredients:

  • 200g smoked eel
  • 1 Finely sliced spring onion
  • 4 turnips
  • 1 Red beetroot
  • 1 yellow beetroot
  • 1 tbsp lapsang souchon tea
  • ½ a tbsp butter
  • 550ml of clear fish stock
  • Drizzles of olive oil
  • Salt and pepper

Method:

  1. Preheat your oven to 195 C
  2. Scrub the beets thoroughly and slice off the leaves. Wrap them loosely in aluminium foil with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast them in a baking tray for 1h30 (add 30 minutes for larger veggies) until the tip of a knife will easily slide through the middle of the beet.
  3. Leave the beetroots aside to cool down, until you can handle them. Once cooked, the skin will peel off very easily with help of kitchen paper.
  4. Rinse and trim the turnips; (keep the tops). Leave baby turnips whole; or cut larger turnips into bite-size morsels and place in foil with exact same seasoning as beetroots.
  5. Roast turnips until tender. Start checking on them after about 30 minutes.
  6. In the meantime, slice the smoked eel into bite-size diamond shapes before pan searing in a non stick frying pan with a drop of olive oil over a medium to high heat.
  7. After a couple of minutes, once the eel has a little colour, reduce the heat and add the butter to the pan. Roast for a further 2 minutes with the foaming butter. Then remove from the pan and set aside on kitchen paper.
  8. Bring the fish stock to the boil in a medium sized saucepan. Turn off the heat as soon as the liquid has boiled and sprinkle in the tea. Leave the tea to infuse for approximately 5 minutes (more or less depending on how strong you enjoy it); pass through a fine sieve and season.
  9. Slice all the cooked vegetables in small segments and place in a small serving bowl. Then delicately add the roasted eel on top and sprinkle the spring onion on top. Lastly pour over the fish stock.

Wines to drink with smoked and roasted eel served with tea consommé

For a traditional pairing, I suggest a Picpoul de Pinet, Domaine Felines Jourdan 2014. This young white wine from the Languedoc-Roussillon region has a light Aniseed flavour with crisp and balanced acidity.

A big favorite of mine to accompany this dish is a dry sherry: Papirusa Manzanilla, Solera Familiar, Emilio Lustau. Tangy and crisp with just a hint of saltiness.

Matching Wines

Picpoul de Pinet, Domaine Felines Jourdan, 2014

Perfectly balanced with wonderful citrus layers and a mellow aniseed flavour, this white wine is a real crowd pleaser. Clean and mellifluous on the palate it pairs beautifully with the deep flavours of the eel and sharpness of the spring onion.

RRP: £10.99 from Virgin Wines

Papirusa Manzanilla, Solera Familiar, Emilio Lustau

Aged in the beautiful surroundings of Lustau’s Bodega in Sanlucar De Barramada, this wonderful wine has picked up a pleasant saltiness due to its closeness to salty sea breezes. This is an exemplary Manzanilla, tangy and light with a balanced citrus acidity.

RRP: £15.35 from Berry Bros and Rudd

Michel Roux Jr
Michel Roux Jr
Columnist
Michel Roux Jr was born in 1960 in Pembury, Kent, where his father Albert Roux worked as a private chef for the Cazalet family. His earliest food memories are the smells of the Fairlawne kitchen – pastry, sugar caramelizing and stews – where he played under the table while his father and mother Monique prepared the meals. After deciding to follow in his father’s footsteps, he left school at 16 for the first of several challenging apprenticeships at Maître Patissier, Hellegouarche in Paris from 1976 to 1979. He was then Commis de Cuisine at Alain Chapel’s signature restaurant at Mionay near Lyon, Michel’s biggest influence. His military service was spent in the kitchens at the Elysée Palace at the time of Presidents Giscard d’Estaing and François Mitterrand. He also spent time at Boucherie Lamartine and Charcuterie Mothu in Paris, and the Gavers Restaurant in London. After a stint at the Mandarin Hotel in Hong Kong he returned to London and worked at La Tante Claire before joining the family business. He took over running Le Gavroche in 1991, gradually changing the style of cooking to his own – classic French with a lighter, modern twist. Michel opened Roux at Parliament Square in May 2010 with Restaurant Associates, part of the Compass Group UK and Ireland. And in November 2010, he opened Roux at The Landau at London’s prestigious luxury hotel, The Langham. Michel was a judge and presenter on the BBC’s popular prime time show, MasterChef: The Professionals, and presented all series of ‘Great British Food Revival.’  Michel fronted BBC2’s ‘Food and Drink,’ in 2014 and presented a documentary on Escoffier, whose revolutionary approach to fine cuisine has inspired Michel and many others. In the same year, Michel went on a journey to create the perfect chocolate for the Le Gavroche Kitchen.  Filmed by the BBC, in Paris he discovered chocolatiers, Cacao Barry and their Or Noir Lab. In 2013, Michel launched his most recent cookbook, ‘The French Kitchen’.  Focusing on traditional French home cooking, this is the fifth solo cookery book from Michel. He is involved with the Roux Experience courses at the ‘Cactus Kitchens’ cookery school, with the Executive producer of Saturday Kitchen, Amanda Ross. Cactus Kitchens offers people the opportunity to learn to cook within small intimate groups from some of the UK’s finest chefs, on site above the Saturday Kitchen studios. Michel has fronted a brand new four-part Channel 4 series, ‘The Diner’, exploring the hurdles faced by people with disabilities and mental health issues when finding employment. Michel also recently presented a new program on his first ever project with the Disney Channel.  ‘First Class Chefs’ which launched in June 2015, is a show where kids aged 9-11 compete to showcase their restaurant skills.