Aquatas Tasmanian Salmon is a leading producer of, in my opinion, high quality and innovative salmon products. I have been a user and admirer of their products for the past 5 years and can recommend them to anybody. Their hot smoked apricot salmon inspired this recipe and instead of smoking your own you can just use theirs, however I understand that it is not everywhere available, so the following recipe make for a home made version.

For the apricot marinade you first have to heat the oil over medium heat and sauté the shallots, ginger until the shallots are transparent but not take colour. Add the apricot and sauté a bit more, deglaze with the vinegar and leave the vinegar to evaporate , then add the wine. Leave the wine to evaporate by half, then add the jam. Simmer slowly for about 10 - 15 minutes, then remove from the heat and leave to cool. If the mixture is too many chunky for your liking , just place it in a food blender and make into a smooth paste. Use this mixture to spread evenly over the salmon about 2 hours before you use it.

For the salmon, clean, trim and marinate with the apricot marinade for two hours. If you have a smoker, cold smoke it for 5 minutes then remove. Bake at 180 degrees for about 5 minutes. If you have a stove top smoker, place salmon in it with wood shavings at the base and smoke for 3 minutes, then remove and finish baking the same way as the other way. The smoke taste should be subtle and not too dominant.

For the noodle salad, bring a pot of salted water to boil and quickly blanch the soba noodles in it. Don’t overcook them they only need a few minutes to cook. In a frying pan sauté the enoki mushrooms with a tablespoon of olive oil, without adding much colour to them. Combine with the noodles and add the mirin lime dressing as well as the chives and the watercress. Toss well Serve the hot salmon on top of the cold salad. Sprinkle with sesame seeds for decoration.