MACERATED CABBAGE WITH CITRUS FRUITS AND SEA LETTUCE, MACKEREL AND CUMIN AIR

Note: This winter salad with fermented cabbage is ideal for a healthy diet. Fermented foods help the digestion, as the fermentation process multiplies the nutrients and makes them easier to absorb.  Especially suitable to replacing prebiotic bacteria in the intestine.

Fermented cabbage:

1 cabbage cut in julienne strips

100 ml sea water

500 ml sterilised water

2 fennel flowers

1 tbsp cumin seeds

1 cup fresh sea lettuce, cut in julienne strips

Citrus fruit juice for maceration:

3 oranges

1 grapefruit

1 lemon

50 ml sea water

Marinated mackerel:

4 medium-sized mackerel

1 glass apple vinegar

½ kg sea salt

Cumin air:

1 tbsp powdered cumin

250 ml mineral water

1 tbsp soy lecithin

Dressing:

2 carrots, liquidised

1 glass of the cabbage marinade

Salt and oil

Others:

1 orange/ 1 grapefruit in segments without membranes / oxalis flowers / fresh marigold flowers / fresh fennel leaves

Fermented cabbage: Mix all the ingredients using your hands, as if massaging the cabbage. Transfer to a glass jar with a rubber-sealed stopper, arrange a whole cabbage leaf over the surface and press down well. For fermented foods that do not include yeast, the process works best when done with a rising moon. If bottled during a waxing crescent, after 21 days it will be perfect because, by the full moon, it will have fermented and, as the moon wanes, it will start to mature. From then on, the longer the food remains in the jar, the more properties and flavour it will have.

Citrus juices for the maceration: Submerge the fermented cabbage in the citrus juices for 1 day.

Marinated mackerel: Fillet the fish, place on a bed of sea salt and chill for 3 hours. Transfer to a container and add the apple vinegar. Leave for 3 minutes. Remove and dry with paper. Remove the thin skin and the bones. Set aside in a container with a little low-acidity oil.

Cumin air: Beat in a blender at medium speed to add air.

Dressing: Form an emulsion by beating for one minute.

Take a soup plate and form a crown of cabbage. At the centre place some thin slices of fennel bulb. Top the cabbage with some pieces of fresh orange and grapefruit, some acid-flavoured oxalis flowers and some orange-flavoured marigold petals. Top with pieces of marinated mackerel, skin side up. And serve some dressing in the centre to simulate a small pond. Finish with a cloud of cumin air.