Smoked salmon and avocado timbale

I was feeling a bit creative today after a weekend spent mostly on the couch watching the Olympic boys and girls battle it out for world supremacy.

I'm going through a 'salmon phase' at the moment; can't get enough of it. It is so tasty, relatively healthy and a very versatile ingredient.

I wanted to make something using avocado and smoked salmon. These ingredients complement each other perfectly. I enjoy the texture and flavours and the lovely colours of these two ingredients. I didn't want to make a salad, and I wanted the dish to be cold, so I decided to wrap some smoked salmon around some spiced, mashed avocado and make a 'timbale.' Basically this is a fancy name for the round shape of the mould that you'll make this dish in.

I think it worked out rather nicely, don't you think? 

What you'll need

* This dish serves four as an entree or a light meal.

200g sliced smoked salmon

1 cup white rice, cooked and cooled - I used sushi rice

1 large ripe avocado

2 tbs red wine vinegar

Juice of half a lemon

2 tbs olive oil

20g cheese, I used crumbled blue cheese, or you could use shaved Parmesan or goat's cheese

8 roasted cherry tomatoes (alternatively you could slowly pan-fry the tomatoes to soften them)

2 cups salad leaves - I used rocket 

Lemon wedges to serve

Salt and pepper

What to do

You will need four same-sized small containers to make this dish. I used glass ramekins, but you could use tea cups, small plastic containers etc. Whatever you have is OK. 

Lightly grease the containers. I put some vegetable on my fingers and rubbed it around the inside of the containers. Next, line the containers with plastic wrap, so the salmon will not stick and is easy to remove later. Use enough so there is an overhang that you can wrap over the top at the end.

Take one or two pieces of salmon and lined the inside of the container, pressing the salmon into the corners. If you have enough salmon to overhang the container that's great. If not, that's Ok, as you will invert this salmon to serve it, so if the bottom is not covered, you will not see it. Put the salmon-covered dishes in the fridge while you make the filling.

Scoop the avocado flesh into a bowl and mash roughly. Mix in the rice, vinegar, lemon juice and oil and season well with salt and pepper.

 Remove the salmon containers from the fridge.

Scoop the avocado mixture evenly between the four containers and smooth down with a spoon.

Wrap any overhanging salmon neatly over the top of the avocado. Then wrap the plastic wrap over the top of this to seal it. Place in the fridge to chill for one hour before serving.

To serve, place some of the salad leaves in the centre of a plate. Unfold the plastic wrap from the top of the dish, then invert it onto the salad leaves. Carefully remove the dish and then the plastic wrap. You should end up with a perfectly round salmon 'ball' sitting on the salad. Place one or two tomatoes on top of the salmon. Scatter the cheese around the plate and garnish with the lemon wedges. I also put a good grind of fresh black pepper over the dish before serving.

If you like you can drizzle some olive oil over the salad leaves, but I don't think it is necessary. Once you break open the salmon, the avocado will mix with the salad leaves to flavour them, and the juice from the roasted tomato will also mix in.

This would be a great entree dish for a dinner party, as you could prepare it in the morning and store in the fridge until you are ready to serve.