Inspired by the colours of autumn – green pea hummus topped with crispy skin salmon, vibrant sweet and sour roasted baby beets, and a warm vegetable salad.
The grass in this autumn scene is formed by blending green peas, chickpeas, cashew butter, roasted garlic, and spices. Complex and creamy, this green pea hummus is a great compliment for the crispy skin salmon.
This is not a typical hummus. Instead of tahini (sesame seed paste), this green creation uses cashew butter. There are many great things about living in Vietnam, and relatively low priced cashew nuts are one of them. You can buy cashew butter or make your own.
The green pea hummus and salmon are the centre of the dish. However, the sweet and sour roasted baby beets are the rising stars. Roasting brings out their natural sweetness. Pickling the beets in a solution of red wine vinegar and honey adds some acidity to balance that sweetness. The result? A feast for the eyes and the palate.
While relegated to a supporting cast role, the warm vegetable salad and mustard sour cream dressing did deliver an excellent performance. Visually stunning, the creamy mustard sauce, earthy mushrooms, sweet red peppers, and roasted baby potatoes brought diversity to the plate that enhanced everyone’s performance.
The success of this crispy skin salmon dish was the motivation for a subsequent creation: paprika crusted salmon on spinach hummus and mushrooms.
Green pea hummus with crispy skin salmon and roasted baby beets
Ingredients
Roasted baby beetroot
- 500 g baby beetroot
- 1/2 cup liquid honey
- 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 Tbsp black peppercorns
Green pea hummus
- 400 g chickpeas 1 standard tin
- 2/3 cup green peas frozen
- 1 Tbsp cashew butter or smooth low salt no sugar peanut butter
- 1 head garlic
- 1 lemon
- 1/4 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/4 cup olive oil
Warm vegetable salad
- 200 g button mushrooms
- 150 g enoki mushrooms
- 20 g butter
- 1 red pepper
- 10 baby potatoes
Mustard sour cream dressing
- 1/3 cup sour cream
- 1 Tbsp white wine vinegar
- 2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
- 2 Tbsp raw sugar
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 Tbsp spring onions green part finely diced
- 500 g salmon fillets skin on, pin bones removed
Instructions
Roasted baby beetroot
- Pre heat the oven to 180 degC.
- Wash the beetroot, then wrap in foil with a splash of olive oil
- Roast the beetroot, together with the head of garlic for the hummus, for 1 hour.
- Bring remaining ingredients to the boil in a saucepan.
- Allow beetroot and pickling liquid to cool.
- Slide or peel the skins off the beetroot.
- Add the beetroot to a bowl and pour over the pickling liquid.
- Seal with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
- Before serving, drain the beetroot, discarding the pickling liquid.
Green pea hummus
- Roast the garlic as per these instructions.
- Thaw the frozen peas.
- Open the can of chickpeas and drain the liquid into a bowl in case needed to thin the hummus.
- Squeeze the cloves of garlic from the roasted garlic head.
- Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth.
- If necessary, add liquid from the can of chickpeas, a Tbsp at a time, to get to the right consistency.
- Put in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until serving time.
Warm vegetable salad
- Preheat the oven to 200 degC.
- Wash the baby potatoes. No need to peel unless the skin is not clean and smooth.
- Cut into pieces roughly 15x15mm pieces.
- Place on a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil. Add a pinch of salt.
- Smear the red pepper in olive oil and add to the baking tray.
- Roast for 45 minutes then remove the red peppers. Continue roasting the potatoes for another 15 minutes.
- Wash and quarter the button mushrooms.
- Remove the lower fibrous bit from the enoki mushrooms. Cut the rest into
- Melt 20 g of butter in a saute pan. Saute mushrooms until starting to brown. Remove from heat and keep in a bowl.
- Dice the red pepper into 15x15mm pieces and add to the bowl with the mushrooms.
- Keep the potatoes separate for now. Drop over the top of the salad once on the plate.
Mustard sour cream dressing
- Combine all the ingredients in a blender, except for the spring onions.
- Remove to a bowl and stir in the finely diced spring onions.
- Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate.
- When plating, drizzle over the warm veggie salad and salmon.