Recipes from an Islandmix. Chef Xabier Blanco. Gran Canaria.

800 gr salmon loin
600 gr tuna cactus juice
200 gr beetroot juice
2 squeezed limes
200 gr salt 
200 gr Guía Flower Cheese
100 gr cream 35%
2 avocados 
1 pinch of cumin
1 handful of crushed coriander
1 lime 
1 kg large yellow sweet potatoes
130 gr cream 
120 gr butter 
Some salmon spawn to embellish the dish

- Salmon marinated in tuno cactus juice
Sumerge the salmon into a recipient covered with the marinade made from tuno cactus juice, beetroot juice, the limes and salt. Allow to sink in slowly for 20 to 30 hours in a refridgeration chamber. The acid from the marinade will soften the muscular tissue of the salmon thinning out the proteins and making the product that much more tender.
Once the marinating period is over, take out the salmon loin and dry it off. The whole piece will have become impregnated from the outside with a purple colour and will display a terse and tender texture.

- Cream of Guía flower cheese
Heat up the cream in a pan and melt the Guía flower cheese into the cream. Keep working it in until a thick and concentrated texture is achieved.
Store.

- Cream of avocado and cumin
Crush all the avocado, cumin, coriander and lime juice in together.
Add salt to taste.

- Sweet potato crunch
Roast the sweet potato in the oven without taking off the skin at 180 ºC for 40 minutes. (Time may vary depending on the thickness of the potato).
Draw out the pulp from the potato and mash it in finely with the cream and the butter. If no Termomix is available to apply the temperature when chopping off, lightly heat the cream and melt the butter into it and then blend it in with the potato.
Once mashed spread out the puré on a non-stick silicon tray or on greased oven paper with a spatula. It has to be evenly spread several milimetres deep. The finer it is before drying the better the texture it will have.
Let it dry out in a dry place at room temperature. To accelerate the process it can be dried in an oven at 65ºC for a few hours. As much humidity as possible must be drawn out of the product before frying it.
When the spread is fully dried it is fried in large portions (lightly so that they don’t burn) and the crunchy product can be shaped as required before it cools off. The reason for letting it cool is for it to be crunchier.
To round off the dish, just add the salmon spawn.

Download recipe [PDF - 357 KB]

Chef Xabier Blanco explains the origin of his recipe:

"I have been inspired by 3 Gran Canarian products. Firstly, I thought of Guía flower cheese, as it is one of the most symbolic products on the island.

Secondly I chose the tuno cactus because it is a rarely used ingredient other than for making juices, and for the fact it is a peculiar product in the islands’ cuisine. For me it has great potential, an untapped potential even. I thought that the pH of this product would be good for marinating fish.

And lastly, the sweet potato, which is a product with a long tradition on the islands, and in the case of our restaurant, brought in from the municipality of Gáldar.

Salmon is a greasy fish that we give a spreadable quality to with the cream cheese and avocado. The potato done this way adds a crunchy texture and a light sweetness due to the caramelization of its starch. Then the spawn softens the greasy flavour in the mouth and brings a characteristic sweetness. It strengthens and rounds off the dish."