Entertain at home: Salmon salad with fennel, ricotta, capers, and cucumbers paired with Spier Sauvignon Blanc
When it’s really hot outside, no one wants piping hot food! This simple, classy, cold salmon/ trout salad is the perfect way to enjoy the summer heat while sipping on a fabulous glass of Spier 21 Gables Sauvignon Blanc. You can also use hot smoked trout (cooled, flaked) for this salad - find it in the fish deli section of most good supermarkets.
Serves 4
You’ll need: 1 bunch watercress leaves, rinsed; ½ cucumber, peeled into ribbons with a peeler; 1 fennel bulb, finely cut/ shaved; 200g cold-smoked salmon or trout ribbons; 100g ricotta cheese, crumbled; a handful capers; fresh lemon juice; extra virgin olive oil; freshly ground black pepper and salt, to taste.
How to:
On a large salad platter (or on 4 individual plates), assemble the watercress leaves, then top with cucumber, fennel, salmon/ trout, ricotta and capers. Drizzle with lemon juice and olive oil, then season to taste with salt & pepper.
Serve immediately with a glass of Spier 21 Gables Sauvignon Blanc.
About the wine:
The first impression of the 21 Gables Sauvignon Blanc is of a fresh grassiness. Those herbaceous pyrazine flavour compounds are what make Sauvignon Blanc so compelling – flavours like bell pepper, grass, jalapeno, green fig leaves and gooseberry. The uplifting levity of taste gains in complexity as the riper, more tropical influences rise through the layers, offering a longer and more vibrant presence on the palate. Some Sauvignon Blanc vintages are stellar half a decade after harvest. Give it time.
Spier Signature wines are widely available at retail outlets and supermarkets and online at shop.spier.co.za.
* Recipe by Ilse van der Merwe, photography by Tasha Seccombe.
