Here's something wonderfully delicious and totally Festive for the Season. Perfect as part of a Christmas buffet table, or gorgeous as a Christmas Eve or Christmas Day starter. This is also totally healthy and quick to put together, serving 6 - 8 depending on the size of the portions. If you want this for a buffet table I suggest you made two, rather than doubling the recipe and using a bigger pudding bowl.
The salmon in this is Wild Sockeye (available at Sainsburys), which gives the dish its stunning red colour, and is allowed on the Budwig because it is not farmed. Farmed salmon can be infested with sea lice and the water in the salmon pens can become heavily polluted with feed residue and faeces, infecting the fish. Some supermarket farmed salmon really does not look healthy at all - being an almost grey pink. Not so with this amazingly bright Sockey salmon as it is not greasy or fatty and has a refined flavour - perfect for the parfait - with the highest levels of Omega 3 fatty acids of any fish, providing 2.7 g of Omega 3 per 100 g. It is also rich in B vitamins (especially B12), Vitamin D, selenium and potassium. Omega 3 is important for vascular health and a a healthy heart.
I use a little coconut oil in this to hold the parfait together. With just an ounce between 6 - 8 people, it is hardly anything at all, but if it is not added, the parfait can be a little runny.
Serve with crackers or crusty bread, or with a handful of dressed leaves.
Happy Christmas
Serves 6 - 8
120g sheep's feta cheese
75 g soft creamy goat's cheese
60 g organic raw spinach, cooked down
250 g freshly cooked asparagus, steamed for 3 minutes
100 g Sainsbury's artichoke antipasto in oil
20 g coconut oil, melted
1 tbs chopped chives
reserved asparagus tips
lemon slices to serve
ground black pepper
dill
** 1 cup of Healing Intent
1. Line a 1 pint pudding basin with cling film and line with slices of smoked salmon, making sure there are no gaps for the filling to ooze from. Reserve about three slices to cover the filling - this becomes the bottom of the bombe.
2. Prepare the asparagus spears - trim the woody ends and peel the lower part of the stems if very thick. Steam the asparagus spears for 3 minutes and reserve the tips of the spears for later.
3. Cook the spinach leaves over a low heat. When wilted, squeeze all the water from the spinach, and cool.
4. In a Vitamix or quality food processor, add the cheeses, melted coconut oil, spinach, asparagus and artichoke. Add a good grind of black pepper and blitz until smooth. When smooth, stir in the chopped chives.
5. Pour the filling into the mould and finish with a final layer of salmon. Pull the cling film to the centre to hold everything together and put into the freezer for 3 hours. It should not be frozen but it should be solid.
6. To serve de-mould and arrange on a platter and remove the cling film. Decorate with lemon slices, asparagus spears and a few sprigs of dill.
** Healing Intent: when cooking and preparing foods to heal the body it is important to set your intent. The best way to do this is imagine that you are cooking this dish for yourself or for someone you love who is very ill and that this dish is the only thing that will help in their healing. You will find that the way you handle the food will change, and will not only result in a better dish, but you will feel the food actually nourishing your body and spirit.