Smoked Salmon Cheesecake

THIS DISH came about purely by mistake.  I was reading the M+S Christmas food catalogue thinking it was very expensive for what you get and remembered a conversation I had with a colleague of mine about salmon cheesecake and whether or not it would work.  I put the two together and came up with this as a great Christmas starter.

INGREDIENTS:

For the base:

1 Small pack oatcakes
50g Butter, melted. 

For the filling:
  
250g   Smoked salmon, cut into strips (175g chopped)
150ml Double cream
2 Egg whites
250g Soft cream cheese
2 tbsp Horseradish cream (optional)
Zest of a lemon
10g Powdered gelatine
Salt
Pinch Cayenne pepper



METHOD:

1) First blitz the oatcakes to a thin crumb.  Melt the butter then mix.  Spoon into a buttered cake tin, press down firmly and chill for an hour.

2) Put the gelatine in cold water. Take the cream and chopped salmon, add the zest and a pinch of salt.  Blitz with a handblender to make a salmon mousse.

3) Fold in the cream cheese, horseradish cream and cayenne before whipping the egg whites to stuff peaks.

4) Gradually fold in the egg whites to the mousse mix, ensuring it's all incorporated and mix in the gelatine.

5) Spoon the mixture onto the base and smooth over with a palette knife.  Place in the fridge to set for at least four hours or over night.

6) Garnish with some whole slithers of salmon and some frisee lettuce (optional).