Here is a recipe for a lovely light salad for those soon to arrive long summer evenings, it is also perfect for entertaining.
Lemon & Dill Cured Salmon Gravlax
Serves 10
Preparation time 20 mins
Cooking time 72 hours
Ingredients
- 1/2 side of salmon, skinned and pin boned
- 2 Lemons (zest only)
- Half a bunch of fresh dill
- 600g Table salt
- 600g Caster sugar
Method:
- Trim any excess fat from edges of salmon and set aside.
- Weigh out your sugar and salt and mix together.
- Finely chop dill and add to the salt mix, with the zest of 2 lemons.
- Thoroughly mix all ingredients together.
- In a container big enough to fit your salmon into, spread a layer of the marinade over the bottom about 1/2 an inch thick.
- Lay the salmon onto the salt mix and gently press down.
- Pour the rest of the salt mix over the salmon, ensuring it is completely covered around all edges.
- Cover in cling film and place into the fridge for 72 hours.
- After a few days, all the water will have been drawn out of the salmon and it will essentially “be cooked” and ready to be finely sliced.
- We serve it with watercress, finely diced boiled new potatoes, capers and brown shrimp with a lemon vinaigrette.
A nice variation of this is to mix a pureed beetroot into the salt and sugar mix to give the salmon an awesome deep purple ring.
In season this month:
Fruits & Nuts
Forced Rhubarb
Vegetables & Herbs
Cabbages, Cauliflower, Morel Mushrooms, Purple Sprouting Broccoli, Spring Greens, Lettuce, Radishes, Sea Kale, Sorrel, Watercress
Meat & Game
Lamb, Wood Pigeon
Fish & Shellfish
Brown & Cock Crab, Pollack, Wild Samon, Sea Trout
Going out of season
Cockles, Oysters, Venison, Wild Garlic, Winkles
Suzanne is a professional chef, wife and mother who has lived in south East London all her life.
You can email Suzanne with any comments or questions at info@suzannejames.co.uk
This article first appeared in the April 2016 issue of SE22 magazine