ACQUAMARA RECIPES

Poached salmon salad for four
Eat in a sunny spot with friends with a glass of zippy, fresh Sauvignon Blanc. Salmon doesn’t need embellishment and is perfect poached simply in Acquamara. Serve with a Jersey Royal new potato and asparagus salad with hollandaise sauce ... if you must gild the lily.

1. Poaching your salmon
1kg/2–3lb salmon
Acquamara (70%–100%) 

Place the salmon in a fish kettle or large roasting tin. Add enough Acquamara to cover. Add tap water if you want to dilute. Cover with a lid or tin foil and bring to the boil. Turn off the heat after it has boiled for about five seconds. Leave the fish to stand in the water until it has cooled to room temperature. 

2. Making your salad
Bunch of asparagus
Large bunch of watercress or pea tops – wash in Acquamara if leaves need washed
250g/9oz Jersey Royal new potatoes, boiled in Acquamara (30%–50%) and cooled
Light olive oil and lemon juice for a light dressing 

Preheat a griddle pan until smoking hot. Spritz the asparagus spears then toss with one tablespoon of the olive oil and season with black pepper. Place the asparagus onto the hot griddle pan and cook until charred and just tender (3–5 minutes). Remove from the pan and set aside. 

3. Hollandaise sauce
3 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 dried bay leaf
6 peppercorns
2 egg yolks
125g/4oz butter
Lemon juice
Pepper to taste 

Put the vinegar in a small pan with the peppercorns and bay leaf. Reduce the vinegar over a high heat until there is only 1 tbsp left. Strain the peppercorns and the bay leaf from this reduction. Put the egg yolks in a food processor with the vinegar reduction. Gently melt the butter so that the butter solids fall to the bottom of the saucepan. Turn the food processor on and slowly pour the butter on to the egg yolks with the motor still running. The sauce will start to thicken. When only the butter solids are left, stop. If the sauce is too thick, add a little hot water. Season to taste with pepper and a little lemon juice. 

4. Assembling the salad
Place your leaves, asparagus, flaked salmon and halved potatoes on a platter with the light oil and lemon dressing – serve with the hollandaise sauce. Make it your own by adding anything else that you like in a salad such as radishes, herbs, cucumber...

Gazpacho

A traditional Andalucian soup served cold. Make in the summer when the ingredients are at their best. Serves four to six. 

1/4 cucumber
1 red pepper
225g/8oz tomatoes
1 small onion
1 garlic clove
A few sprigs of parsley
150ml/1/4 pt Aquamara
1 tbsp tomato paste
Pepper to taste 

 Roughly chop all the vegetables. Blend all the ingredients together in small quantities in a liquidiser goblet until smooth. Add more Acquamara to thin if desired. Chill and serve with croutons. Easy peasy and bursting with flavour.

Vegetable and seafood tempura

The great thing about tempura is you can use it for so many vegetables from mushrooms to courgette flowers (fill first with anchovies and sage or ricotta and mint) and seafood like prawns and simple pieces of white fish are just delicious. You can experiment with additional seasonings like pepper or spices. The skinny organic crunchy carrots were our favourite. Tempura is a quick, easy and impressive starter or snack. Serves four.

1 egg
1 cup iced Acquamara (it has to be icy cold)
1 cup plain flour
Vegetable oil 

Beat an egg in a bowl. Add the iced Acquamara. Be sure to use very cold Acquamara. If your tempura is oily it’ll be because your Acquamara isn’t cold enough. Add sifted flour in the bowl and mix lightly. Be careful not to overmix the batter – lumpy is best. Use immediately. If you are using vegetables and fish, fry the veg first. Your oil is hot enough when a drop of batter goes halfway down and then comes to the top. Serve plain or with a dipping sauce of your choice.