Gin and tonic-cured salmon

Step 1

To make the pickled lemons, slice the lemons finely on a meat slicer or mandoline. Dissolve the sugar in the vinegar, mix in the water and transfer the lemons and liquid to a vacuum bag and leave to pickle for 24 hours

Step 2

Preheat the oven to 175°C/gas mark 4

Step 3

For the soda bread, mix all of the ingredients except the buttermilk in a mixer until just incorporated, it will be quite wet. Add the buttermilk and mix well. Transfer to a shallow tin and bake for 35–40 minutes

Step 4

Leave to cool completely, then crumble into breadcrumbs then bake until crispy in a low oven

Step 5

For the salmon, toast the spices and crush. Blitz the zest, spices, dill and 100g of the flaky sea salt to a coarse consistency in a food processor and transfer to a bowl. Fold through the remaining salt, sugar and gin

Step 6

Generously coat the salmon with the cure and leave for 10 hours

Step 7

To compress the cucumber, slice along the cucumber into 0.5cm slices, discarding any pieces with seeds

Step 8

Transfer to a vacuum bag with the olive oil and salt and seal. Reserve in the fridge for 2–3 hours before dicing into cubes

Step 9

To make the tonic gel, blend the tonic water with the 100g of pickled lemon, 100ml of pickling liquor from the pickled lemons and the water until smooth and pass through a fine sieve. Heat the puree to 85°C and add the gellan, sugar and salt. Blend with a hand blender and transfer to a tray to set in the fridge. Once set blend the gel to a purée consistency and transfer to a piping bag

Step 10

To make the dill mayonnaise, blitz the dill with the oil until smooth then hang through muslin. Whisk together the egg yolk, vinegar and mustard and slowly drizzle in the dill oil until emulsified. Season to taste

Step 11

When ready to serve, rinse the salmon well and dry on kitchen paper. Cut into a 1cm dice, discarding some of the edges if they are too salty

Step 12

To plate, arrange the salmon pieces in a ring with the cucumber dice and pipe dots of the dill mayonnaise and tonic gel on top. Sprinkle with soda breadcrumbs and garnish with dill sprigs