Vodka and beetroot gravadlax
This a simple, yet stunning starter or light lunch. Gravadlax is a Nordic dish of raw and cured salmon. Traditionally, all you need is salt, sugar and dill, but we have made this even more impressive by using raw beetroot to give the salmon a fiery red edge.
Makes 1 side of gravadlax
Ingredients
- 1 side of salmon (ideally wild or organic), cleaned and skinned
- Pickling ingredients:
- 150g large salt crystals (we used 1/2 plain salt and half Cornish lemon and thyme)
- 4 raw beetroots, grated
- 1 tablespoon of dill seeds
- 1 tablespoon of fennel seeds
- 1 bunch of chopped fresh dill (or 1 tablespoon of dried dill)
- zest of 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated pepper
- 4 tablespoons of vodka
Method
Combine the pickling ingredients thoroughly in a bowl
Spread a sheet of cling film on the work surface and spread half the pickling mixture in the middle
Place the salmon on the pickling mixture and spread the remaining mixture in top
Wrap tightly in the cling film, place on a tray with another tray on top
Weight the second tray down with a few cans and place in the fridge for up to 4 days, turning every day
Make sure that you also empty the liquid from the tray as it will collect during the curing process
After 4 days, place the fish in the cling film into a large plastic bag and wrap in more clingfilm and place in the freezer for at least 48 hours
Slice thinly from frozen as this makes it much easier and leave the slices on a plate to come up to room temperature (20 minutes)
Please note: you can cut the side in half (vertically) if you won’t eat the whole side in one sitting or if the whole half will not fit in the fridge
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