Taming XO Sauce with Cream

XO sauce is an intense, salty, spicy Chinese condiment built on dried scallop, dried shrimp, cured ham and chilli - wonderful on its own, but overpowering against delicate fish. The fix is to soften it: sweat a little shallot, bloom the XO in oil to wake its aromatics, then loosen it with heavy cream and a splash of shellfish stock and simmer gently until lightly thickened. The cream rounds the salt and heat into a glossy, savoury sauce that frames the salmon rather than fighting it; a few drops of lemon at the end lift the whole thing. Simmer gently and never boil hard, or the cream can split.