The Little Geranium is open! And Steven Saunders shows us how to make home-smoked salmon

This week Celebrity & Master Chef Steven Saunders, proprietor of The Little Geranium in La Cala celebrates the reopening of The Little Geranium after four months closure!

READERS of my weekly page will know that I have been talking about reopening for some time but due to restrictions, we have been unable to open as it is just not been viable. There are many other small restaurants and bars in the same situation. It appears that it is not legal to have 12 people inside a small restaurant or bar but when I go to the gym each morning, it is perfectly ok for a 100 people with no metre restrictions and not a mask insight!

It can’t be easy trying to keep everyone safe, but I don’t think that they have given enough thought to the small restaurants and bars on our coastline and sadly many will not be able to reopen because of the restrictions. However, we are going to give it a go! Here are some of the new things that we are planning;

New Tasting Menu concept:
We are opening on July 1 with a few tables inside and a few outside, with a new tasting menu concept, which offers more price variety. We are only opening in the evenings, by reservation, and Michele my wife will organise in advance with you which menu you would like to be on so that we have close contact and coordination with our clients.
It gives a much more personal touch to our restaurant and ensures that you get the menu you want and the time you want to eat. Expect some friendly attentive service and some fantastic arty food. I am designing new dishes every day and I have introduced a special three-course tasting menu at only €30, available by booking online or email Michele@thelittlegeranium.com

As well as a variety of four-course to nine-course tasting menus at a variety of prices so that you can literally choose what you want to spend! Wine pairing- we will be featuring some new wines from our fantastic local Spanish supplier including some rare Spanish wines, some local wines and some French premium wines like Chablis and Montrachet. Wine pairing is available to go with your chosen tasting menu and is great value for example for the three-course menu we serve three fantastic wines to go with each course at just €15 per person.

Our Porsche Chauffeur service:
When you reserve the nine-course Platinum menu (see online) you can book the chauffeur service (it is on a first come first served basis, see terms) totally complimentary within 10km of the Geranium. For terms and more information, go online http://www.thelittlegeranium.com or email Michele.

Molecular Cookery days:
Learn how to cook like a Michelin Chef, the modern way with me in my own home here in Mijas. Expect to see how to sou vide without a machine, how to make airs, purees, emulsions, gels, home smoking and curing. Create a theatre at home and blow your friends away! Email for more information.

Dine not a takeaway, but a dining experience in your own home!
For €50pp you will get a seven-course tasting menu of fine dining food to enjoy in the comfort of your own home. If you want to stay in but eat Michelin style food, then email us for more information and the current menu.

Buy a Voucher and get 10 per cent
If you are planning to visit The Little Geranium anytime in 2020, then you can buy a voucher and receive a 10per cent bonus. For example, if you buy a voucher for €100 you will get a €110 voucher and so on. To obtain a voucher and receive the discount, send Michele an email with your requirements and we will send it electronically. I hope that we see you soon!

Home Smoked Salmon, made easy (serves two)

Ingredients:
It is better to buy a small smoking device called a smoking gun which you can buy online for about €50.
3 herbal tea bags with the contents emptied out of the bags
(1 glass cloche if you are using a smoking gun)
2 fillets of good quality salmon, boneless & skinless
1 glass of dry white wine
1 packet of wakame seaweed (you can often find this frozen in some supermarkets)
50g of unsalted butter
1 large sprig of fresh dill
Juice of half a lemon
Olive oil
Maldon salt
Fresh milled black pepper

Method for Salmon:
Seal the salmon on one side in a hot pan in a little olive oil, then remove and put on a small baking tray, sitting on the sprig of fresh dill (or another herb).
Preheat the oven to 200c.
Put half the butter on top of the salmon and add the wine and season well and bake in the oven for 7-10 minutes (depending on size).
Remove and rest.

For truffle cream:
50g salted butter
250 ml of fresh thick cream
1 small onion peeled and chopped finely
1 clove garlic peeled and chopped
2 heaped teaspoons of truffle pieces (or shavings of fresh black truffle)
A splash of dry white wine
2 teaspoons truffle oil
Seasoning

Method:
In a thick-bottomed saucepan, pour the white wine and warm it.
Now add the garlic, onion and finally the cream and cookout and reduce for 5 minutes on a medium heat.
Pass this through a sieve into a clean pan.
Finally, add the butter, and then the truffle pieces, the truffle oil, taste and season.

Smoking the Salmon:
For this, you will need a smoking gun, or you can smoke using a small saucepan with a fitted colander on top and a lid. Simply put the teabag contents into the saucepan and warm on a low heat to start the smoking (not too hot or it will burn) then put the colander on top and then add the salmon fillets onto a butter wrapper and then put on a fitted lid and leave for 5 minutes for the smoke to penetrate the salmon.
Serve the salmon with a little lemon squeezed over and with some wakame seaweed on top, the truffle sauce separately.
Note: If using a smoking gun, you can hold the smoke under the glass cloche over the dish and then reveal it at the table for great theatre.

Follow Steven on Instagram… @saunderschef
The Little Geranium, Winner of Best International Restaurant Spain…2020
www.thelittlegeranium.com For bookings: Michele@thelittlegeranium.com