“My mother put on some baby reins which I interpreted as a dog lead as a child” Queen Viv said while exercising her perfect table manners and dabbing at the corners of her mouth with her napkin. “I even cocked my leg up when we got to a tree” she added. Everyone around her looked surprised. If there’s something we couldn’t imagine, it’s Queen Viv being a dog.
“How long were you a dog?” I asked her.
“Oh just the once, it was an unsuccessful experiment” she said, popping a large olive in her mouth and chewing on the pip before adding with a wink. “My mother never repeated it.”
One of my favourite things about getting together with friends is the random conversation that may occur or learning interesting tidbits about their lives. And whenever you have someone over, the food is just as important as the conversation. I first came across something like this salad at Leura Garage in the Blue Mountains. I decided to make a version of this as the weather is starting to warm up and we defrost and become more sociable and the idea of inviting people over for lunch becomes as appealing as a shiny new toy or a pair of twinkly shoes.
This salad is one of my favourites ever – it is healthy, low carb it is crunchy and it doesn’t feel virtuous because of the balance of flavours and textures. You can add things like halved kipfler potatoes, chickpeas or roasted beetroot to it if you feel like it and it is interchangeable with whatever vegetables you might like. I’ve tried so many additions and combinations!
The key to this recipe is a balance of flavours and the ability to do things ahead of time because when you have people over, you don’t want to miss any interesting conversational tidbits. The eggs can be boiled the day before, the onions can be done that morning, the trout easily skinned and filleted that day and the celeriac remoulade can even be done the night before.
And the best thing about friends? That they don’t judge you if you have done these ahead of time. Because of course, they may have spent a day as a dog cocking their leg at poles!
So tell me Dear Reader, who do you like to cook for the most? And are your friends interested in food as much as you are?
Smoked Trout, Celeriac & Watercress Salad
An Original Recipe by Not Quite Nigella
Serves 4 for lunch
- 250g/1.2 lb celeriac (about 1/4 a small celeriac or 1/2 a large one)
- 1-2 lemons
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon low fat cream
- 1 tablespoon mustard
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
- salt to taste
- 4 eggs (use older eggs as they are easier to peel)
- 1 red onion
- 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1 smoked trout
- 1 bunch watercress
1. Firstly make the celeriac remoulade. Peel the celeriac with a vegetable peeler and then slice or grate into thin matchstick thin pieces. Rub the sides with lemon juice to prevent the celeriac browning and toss in the lemon juice to prevent it browning. Toss with the mayonnaise, cream, mustard and parsley and season with a little salt. Set aside to soften for about 30 minutes-this is best done on the day although I’ve had this after it has been made the night before and it is still fine.
2. Boil the eggs for about 5 minutes and run under cold water. Set aside to cool and you can do this ahead of time too and peel when ready.
3. Slice the red onion thinly and place in a bowl with the rice wine vinegar and sugar. Allow to sit for at least 10 minutes (you can do this a few hours before).
Easily peeling the skin from the trout
4. On the day you want to serve this, place the watercress in four bowls. Remove the skin from the trout and remove the backbone by taking the head and backbone and removing it in one piece. Flake the trout into bite sized pieces. To the plates, add the celeriac remoulade in the centre and the red onion pickle around it and then the smoked trout. Don’t throw out the pickling juice, divide this among the bowls and drizzle on top of the celeriac. Place quartered eggs on top and grind some black pepper on top.
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57 Comments | Add your own
A perfect salad to share with friends! I love the idea of entertaining at lunch for an unexpected twist.
A refined salad! Perfect in all ways.
Cheers,
Rosa
I love cooking for family but friends are lots of fun too. I would rather cook than go out to eat and I will attempt anything and everything.
Recipe looks delicius,can’t wait to give it a try.
What a pretty salad Lorraine. I love trout, either smoked or fresh and watercress is so fresh.
Great photos!
This is one of my favourite salads, well, a rendition of; mine is made with endive, smoked salmon, roast new potatoes and a poached egg, with dill and chives and you use the yolk of the egg as the dressing! OMG, my mouth is watering while I type!
Most of my friends are foodies! But they all appreciate a great meal and good company.
My friends are all as obsessed with food as I am and I love to cook for them!
BTW, I have a big fat trout in my refrigerator right now that I’m going to smoke this weekend for a get together!
xxoo,
RMW
Gorgeous salad! My friends are not that much into food – they just like to eat it.
This salad sounds fabulous. I adore remoulade (and admittedly I’d probably put too much mayonnaise on my version!) I bet the smoked trout would just be the perfect partner too.
I like to cook for my husband because he is truly the only person in my life who has the same open mindedness about food that I do. Everyone else I know has some sort of food prejudice or dislike. It’s very frustrating having dinner parties for people who have limited palettes. The whole point of having people over is to get the opportunity to cook a little more adventurously!
Perfect! I have celeriac growing and we love smoked trout! Bookmarking this one now, thank you!
Trout, celeriac, watercress: all my favorite ingredients! Lorraine, I am sure it was great salad!
I don’t mind at all: cooking for people that appreciate it is a pleasure…
Are my friends interested in food as much as I am? Hmm, yes, they are very interested in my cooking indeed!
Oh, that salad sounds devine! Your friends are such characters
! Maybe I can make an experiment with my kids and see what would happen if they are dogs for a day, on a second note they play dogs all the time, so we are half way there 
We have family friends that are not interested in food very much (unlike me), but I like cooking for them, because the guy thinks I’m the best cook, hehe.
Seriously yum! I want that in my belly.
I used to pretend I was a lion (a la Simba from The Lion King). I’d even growl playfully at smaller children in the local playground. Thankfully I grew out of it!
Haha a dog collar? I dont believe any child should be subjugated to that!
But everyone should get to eat this salad, it looks really very tasty
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
I recently had this meal at a friends house down the coast. She used to live in France for several years, so has some specal dishes up her sleeve! We sat eating this lunch after a hard morning working in the garden which overlooks the bay. Along with a long G & T it was better than anything you could get in a restaurant.Pure magic.
I love cooking for anyone that appreciates my homestyle cooking.
What a delicious sounding lunch, and great complimentary flavours Lorraine! I love rich tasting smoked trout with its soft earthiness, the sharp acidity of the onions, crunchy celariac, and creamy eggs and mayonnaise- yummo! The caper berries are the perfect touch too.
I love cooking for anyone! But its always more fun if its sometime who’s a real foodie and will appreciate the finer details as much as I do
Nearly all my friends are as interested in food as me. That’s why we’re friends. Ok there are other reasons but it’s a definitely a shared interest.
What a colourful dish! love smoked trout.
This post = YUM!
Yum, that is my kind of salad. Strangely I love cooking for my mum. Shes a great cook and a tough critic but I love giving her the chance to relax and have a night off. My dad doesn’t cook and they don’t go out much so mum has cooked thousands of meals in her life x
Well, I’m definitely making this dish soon Lorraine, great ingredients and low-carb , Bonus! Need to start eating more salads and rid myself of extra kilos,lol.
I love to cook for family and friends, but I really get excited when people I invite eat with gusto, that’s the ultimate compliment.
Yesterday, I had the pleasure of meeting you Lorraine and you are just lovely, it was like meeting an old friend. Yes, Dear Readers, she really is all that and more!
A lovely afternoon was had by all,the spread was delicious and generous and the Dilmah family are so down-to-earth and extremely charitable. My daughter Stephanie was so excited to have a photo taken with the Founder Mr.Merrill Fernando , she didn’t stop talking about all the way home. We also were given a Dilmah tote bag with lots of different kinds of Dilmah tea. Looking forward to the event next year and may even have a go at the cooking competition, I haven’t been to Sri Lanka yet.
HI Matilda! It was so nice to finally meet you and thank you for the lovely gift too! I only wish we were sitting at the same table! I think you would knock ‘em dead in the competition-go for it!!
That looks gorgeous!!
Spring and Summer salads here we come.
Love it! Where do you buy your smoked trout? I quite often have particular cravings for smoked trout salad! Delicious.
My friends aren’t as interested in food as I am, but we do have the weird conversations to go with it
Wow – look at those egg yolks! Sounds like a great spring salad
Oh yes, I know what you mean! I’ve had some of the strangest conversations with friends during my travels – and sometimes with people I’ve just met, too. Though a dog collar is pretty high up there on the odd factor
Mmm yum that smoked trout looks mouthwatering! This salad looks so healthy and yummy! I love cooking for friends and family and I’m lucky to have quite a few foodie friends to rave about deliciousness with
Gorgeous salad! Full of such great flavors and pretty to look at as well. Thanks for posting.
I love to cook for family and friends–anyone who is interested in food and conversation. Even weird conversations…sometimes the best!
Looks stunning! I love having low maintenance yet high impact recipes for entertaining. It’s interesting to read that the inspiration came from Leura Garage – I had to check to see if I’d missed you posting about them…
HI Mary! My post on Leura Garage is to come, I haven’t put it up yet
Yum! I love everything about this salad. I love cooking for anyone. It makes me so incredibly happy to have someone like a dish I have made.
What a lovely looking salad. I love the caperberries although perhaps I would prefer a pair of sparkly shoes! I have only ever been a dog in a pantomime performance! xx
This looks like the perfect salad for the warmer days
Must get my hands on smoked trout for delicious work lunches!
Fantastic recipe! My hubby is a HUGE fan of smoked fish and he’d love this salad. Nice one!
I’ve never admitted this before probably because it never occurred to me until you asked – but I love cooking for my 26 year old son. His palate is much like mine and is always willing to sample what I make and critiques it. Plus he looks forward to my cooking. My husband and daughter have similar palates – boring in my opinion. They won’t sample anything I make if they don’t like the sound of it, don’t know what It is or don’t like the color.
Your salad sounds fantastic by the way.
Gad: I must be the most selfish reader of your posts, as I very definitely first and foremost want to please my own taste buds – they are there 24/7
! If I am happy with an outcome an ever widening circle of friends get involved 
! Love your salad: am lucky to live in a national community in which both smoked trout and eel are highly appreciated. We oft smoke our own in ovens built on the communal area or the local supermarket is more than used to getting ‘dirty looks’ if Snowy Mountains smoked trout is not available 
!
Lovely looking salad indeed, TRUE!
I have THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (other than hubby) to entertainingly cook for too!
Theme parties throughout the year, multiple mini bite portions are served!
Friendships are priceless, the LOVE sampling all world cuisines, and feel it is what hubby and TRUE friends deserve!
Superb, Lorraine! I will definitely make this. I am feeling the need for fresh, light Spring food after the heaviness of Winter
made your Vietnamese Chicken and Mint Salad this week. YUM! I LOVE cooking for friends, especially those who share my love of food (which is most of them!) 
i like how perfectly the skin has come off. the salad looks fantastic and just perfect to share with friends.:)
My friend’s are not foodie types unfortunately but, I do love cooking for others and seeing them gobble up my food and then helping themselves to more. I find it uninspiring to cook for myself only. It’s more fun and gratifying to cook for others that I care about. My partner wolfs down everything I make – When we met he hated most veges but NOW, he loves pretty much most of them.
Love, love, love smoked trout… There is some great WA smoked trout out there, well worth the find if you can get your hands on any. And combined with celeriac it would be just perfect.
Cooking for family comes number one, but having lived away from most of my family for over 10 years, my friends have become my family. We used to have “family dinners” of our friends every week, until the “family” topped 20 people and it had to be curtailed!
I cook for. Husband who has not commented once in 23 years on what I serve him. I am quite a good cook and sometimes I have the urge to pour it on his head.
That looks like a fab salad for sharing with a hungry crowd.
I like to cook for two particular girlfriends who have eaten with me for a long time and they can be happy with a sweet potato. It’s always the conversation that matters. And they are appreciative which goes a long way, but I had to end a friendship over food too. She became over the top demanding with special food needs that were always changing. We couldn’t take our friendship to restaurant she would drive them insane and I would slide under table. That would never be you Lorraine. You are certainly a joy to go eat with
You know, I love celeriac and don’t use it nearly enough. A mandoline makes such quick work of it there’s no excuse. Delicious idea to combine it with smoked trout and a perfect salad.
Your Queen Viv stories always make me laugh. Lunch with you guys would be a hoot!
YAY Love a good low carb and tasty salad
I’m always having salads for lunch, so I save calories and then be able to eat more desserts hehe 
I love cooking for my boyfriend because he’s the only one who will eat anything and everything I cook
And not all of my friends are as interested in food as I am so I’ve realised I’m seeing more of my blogger friends lately hehe
What a perfect trout recipe!!! To die for!!! Love it.
I had “blueberry griddle cakes” from the menu for breakfast this morning at PIENO, 285 Crown Street, SURRY HILLS (next door to Thomas Dux Grocer)
The griddle cakes were absolutely delicious!
It got me thinking, I should have these at home they were so good. But, I’m not sure of the recipe they use, or whether you have one.
Would you like to find me a recipe please?
Thanks,
Barry
I love fish, especially trout, in salads – this recipe is a must try, thanks NQN!
Oh yeah, we’re all interested in food. I’m nuts about smoked trout, Ben and Jackson are too. Oh this recipe looks divine
Heidi xo
I like smoked trout. In fact here in Peru is very common to have trout outside the city, fresh and in a BBQ, just perfect, as well as your salad.
Yesterday night I was with my friends, only girls, I love to be with all of them, it’s relaxing, we can talk whatever we want and nobody judge.
Sounds delicious! Thanks for the egg tip
Perfectly healthful, delicious and colorful salad!
well I wouldn’t make this with trout but am interested in some of the variations – make ahead sounds great not only for get togethers but also for lunches too
Are my friends as interested in food as I am? Not likely! Except my food blogging friends. When we have people over to eat, husband cooks and I bake. And it is perfect. I love this salad and must make one. And your photos of it are beautiful!
Low fat cream? Are you serious .. this offering must be absolutely hiding in any supermarket I have visited. Love your celeriac remoulade with the smoked trout salad. Absolutely delicious and on my to-cook list.
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[...] and the creaminess and the lightly smoked trout are delicious together. I was so taken with it, that I made my own version at home.Little Leura Parfait $13Is there room for dessert? Always! We didn’t see the displays of tarts [...]
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