Bunch of Red Radishes (pick ones that are small - medium sized)
Bunch of Purple Radishes (pick ones that are small - medium sized)
Spinach Leaves (washed)
Tobiko (Flying Fish Roe)
4Capers (usually available pickled in a jar)
Captain's Table Water Crackers
Instructions
Poach the Fresh Salmon fillets in a pot of water until cooked and flake them on a plate. Set aside to cool.
Pan sear the Smoked Salmon fillets in a frying pan until cooked and flake them on a plate. Set aside to cool.
In a large mixing bowl, add in both types of Salmon, creme fraiche, horseradish cream, mayonnaise, lemon juice, chopped gherkins, chopped chives, chopped dill and cayenne pepper.
Mix the ingredients together and season with salt and pepper. Place in the refrigerator for 10-15 minutes to help "harden" the mixture.
Using a mandolin, start slicing your radishes really thinly. Keep the radish roots for the barbels (whiskers).
Print or draw a template for your koi fishes. If you have a glass platter, place the template underneath it so that it acts as a guide for your moulding.
Take the salmon rillette out of the refrigerator and start moulding it on your platter using the template as your guide.
Start arranging the sliced radishes from the head and work your way down towards the tail. We used smaller slices for the tail and larger slices for the body.
You can use 1 colour (of radish) per koi fish or mix them up. It's all up to you.
Use 2 capers for the eyes. As for the barbels (whiskers), use the radish roots kept earlier.
For the fins and tail, cut the spinach leaves to represent them. Decorate fins and tail with some Tobiko.
We decorated the platter with Mashed Purple Potatoes, Purple Potatoes (cut out as stars), Parsnip Puree, Samphires, Beach Bananas, sprigs of Dill and more Tobiko.
Serve with water crackers.
Notes
Recipe for the Salmon Rillette itself was adapted & modified from http://www.foodnetwork.co.uk/recipe/smoked-salmon-rillette.html