Pike noodle mousse with a salad of cauliflower, enoki mushrooms and summer herbs

Ingredients

For the pike noodle mousse
200g/7¼oz fresh pike, skin and bones removed
2 free-range eggs
16g/½oz buckwheat (available from health food shops)
¾ tsp four spice mix (also called 'quatre-epices'), a ground spice mixture usually containing white pepper, ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon and/or cloves
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsp miso paste dissolved in 1.2 litres/2 pints water
For the salad and vinaigrette
splash soya sauce
splash rapeseed oil
splash mirin
100g/3½oz enoki mushrooms, chopped
4 tight florets fresh cauliflower, very thinly sliced
For the sweetcorn purée
100g/3½oz sweetcorn
284ml/½ pint chicken stock
salt and freshly ground black pepper
small handful fresh seasonal herbs, chopped
426ml/¾ pint clear fresh chicken stock
small cafétière filled with a handful of herbs on the stalk

Method

1. For the pike noodle mousse, place the pike, eggs, buckwheat and four spices into a Pacojet container, stir and then freeze overnight or until frozen solid. Churn in the Pacojet to make a smooth pike mousse, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and carefully spoon into a piping bag.
2. Pour the miso stock into a large pan and bring to the boil. Pipe the mousse into the boiling stock to create a long noodle. When cooked, remove with a slotted spoon, place on a plate, cover with cling film and keep warm. Divide into four pieces just before serving.
3. For the salad and vinaigrette, mix the soya sauce, rapeseed oil and mirin together in a small bowl. Add the mushrooms and thinly sliced cauliflower and mix well.
4. For the sweetcorn purée, place the sweetcorn into a large pan and add the hot chicken stock. Bring to the boil, turn down the heat and simmer until the volume of chicken stock has reduced by half. Pour into a blender, add salt and freshly ground black pepper and blend until smooth.
5. To serve, decorate four plates with a stripe of the sweetcorn purée. Divide the pike noodle equally among the plates and scatter with the cauliflower and mushroom salad and the chopped herbs. Fill the cafétière with herbs with the hot chicken stock. Infuse for a minute and filter by slowly pushing the filter down. Pour a little of the herb-infused stock over each plate and serve.