Crispy Bone Broth Rice with Everything Salmon

A good tin of fish is a quiet kind of luxury. Crispy rice is a loud one.

Crispy rice normally takes planning. Cook the rice, cool it overnight, then fry it the next day. This takes a packet and a hot pan.

Original Bone Broth Rice is already simmered in free-range chicken bone broth, so it goes straight in with the olive oil from the salmon tin. Five minutes later it's golden and crackling underneath, soft on top, and savoury all the way through.

Then comes everything bagel territory: wild salmon rolled in toasted sesame, poppy seeds, garlic and lemon zest, with smashed cucumber and pickles, feta and a spoonful of yoghurt. That's dinner, in about 15 minutes.

Serves: 2
Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 10 minutes

Ingredients

For the crispy rice

1 packet of The Stock Merchant Original Bone Broth Rice
The olive oil from the salmon tins

For the everything seasoning

1 teaspoon each of poppy seeds, white sesame seeds and black sesame seeds
½ teaspoon each of garlic powder and onion powder
Zest of ½ a lemon
A good pinch of flaky sea salt

For the bowl

2 tins of The Stock Merchant Wild Alaskan Salmon in EVOO
4 baby cucumbers
A handful of gherkins or cornichons, plus a splash of their brine
2 spring onions
A small handful of dill
100g of feta
A few big spoonfuls of Greek yoghurt
1 lemon (the one you zested)
Sea salt and cracked pepper

Method

Smash the cucumbers. Hit them with the flat of a knife until they split, then tear them into bite-sized chunks. Toss with a pinch of salt in a sieve and leave them to drain while you do everything else.
Toast the seasoning. Toast the poppy and sesame seeds in a dry frying pan over medium heat for a minute or two, until they smell nutty. Tip them into a bowl and stir through the garlic powder, onion powder, lemon zest and flaky salt.
Season the salmon. Open the salmon and drain its olive oil into the same pan. Break the salmon into big chunks, add it to the seasoning and toss gently until every piece is coated. Keep a pinch of seasoning back for the top.
Crisp the rice. Heat the salmon oil over medium-high. Add the Bone Broth Rice, press it into a flat layer and leave it alone for 5–6 minutes, until a deep golden crust forms underneath. Don't stir. When it's ready, break it up roughly so you get crisp and soft bits all through.
Make the salad. While the rice crisps, slice the gherkins and spring onions and roughly chop the dill. Toss with the drained cucumber, a splash of brine and the juice of half the lemon. Crumble in the feta.
Season the yoghurt. A pinch of salt and a squeeze of lemon.
Build the bowls. Crispy rice first, cucumber salad alongside, seasoned salmon piled on top. Finish with a spoonful of yoghurt, the last pinch of seasoning, cracked pepper and a lemon wedge.

Recipe notes

Why Bone Broth Rice crisps so well
It's already cooked, so the grains go straight into the pan ready to fry, not steam. And because it's simmered in free-range chicken bone broth, the crust tastes seasoned and savoury all the way through. It's the golden bit everyone fights over, only there's a whole pan of it.

Getting the crust right

Use a non-stick or well-seasoned pan. The rice needs to release cleanly once it's crisp.
Press it flat and don't touch it. Moving it around too early means you get warm rice, not crispy rice.
Check it before you break it up. Lift one edge with a spatula. If it's pale, give it another minute.

Nothing goes to waste
Frying the rice in the salmon's own olive oil means the flavour ends up in the crust, not down the sink.

Swap the tin
Salmon in springwater works too. Use a good glug of extra virgin olive oil for the rice instead. Smoked oysters or tuna chunks are both very good here as well.

Leftover seasoning?
It keeps for weeks in a jar. Try it on eggs, avocado toast or roast potatoes.

Cooking for one?
Halve everything except the seasoning, and keep the extra for tomorrow's eggs.