Sea trout with crab and ginger mousse, wrapped in lettuce with carrot and lemon grass sauce by Aiden Byrne

Ingredients
(Serves four)

11/2 chicken breasts, diced
1 egg white
250ml double cream
25g fresh ginger, peeled
150g picked white crab meat
100g chicken mousse
10 coriander leaves, finely shredded
Rind of 1 lemon, finely grated
2 round butterhead lettuce
4 portions boneless, skinless wild sea trout, 120g each
6 stalks lemon grass
300g new-season carrots, peeled and finely sliced
75g butter, diced
2 star anise
1 litre white chicken stock
200ml double cream
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt and pepper
Coriander leaves, to garnish

Method

For the chicken mousse, place the diced chicken breasts in a chilled blender bowl and blend until very smooth. Add the egg white slowly, then add two-thirds of the cream while the blender is running. Add 1tbs of salt and the remaining cream and blend until the mousse is a light consistency. Place in a bowl and reserve.

Dice the ginger as finely as possible, place in a small saucepan, cover with cold salted water and boil. Drain and repeat the process about six times until the ginger is soft. Dry on kitchen paper.

Place the crab meat in a large bowl and add the chicken mousse, coriander leaves and ginger. Season with salt, pepper and lemon rind, cover with clingfilm and leave in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.

Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil, add 1tbs salt and plunge eight large lettuce leaves in for a few seconds. Remove and quickly place into iced water, drain when cool and dry on kitchen paper.

On a sheet of clingfilm, lay two large lettuce leaves end-to-end to create one large leaf. Sit a piece of fish in the centre of the leaves and spoon one-quarter of the mousse-crab mix on top of the fish with the softened ginger. Fold over the lettuce to create a parcel, using the clingfilm to get a tight seal. Repeat to make four parcels and reserve in the fridge.

To make the carrot purée, bruise the lemon grass with the back of a chopping knife and chop into small pieces. In a large, covered pan, sweat the carrots with the butter, lemon grass and star anise for 10-15 minutes without letting them colour. When the carrots are soft, add the stock, reduce by half, add the cream and again reduce by half. Transfer to a blender and blend until smooth. Pass through a fine sieve twice. Season with salt, lemon juice and sugar, if necessary.

Place the fish in the steamer and cook for 6-7 minutes, then leave to sit for a further minute. To serve, reheat the carrot purée and spoon on to each plate. Cut each piece of fish in half widthways and arrange on top of the carrot purée. Dress each dish with some coriander leaves.

Aiden Byrne, head chef, the Grill at the Dorchester - taken from his book Made in Great Britain, to be published by New Holland Publishers on 16 September