Gravlax

Enjoy gravlax with ease

Why are we so ready to believe that great results require great effort?

We live in a culture that tells us  that to achieve anything worthwhile, we have to work hard, to struggle and to fight. But I am beginning to feel that quite the opposite is true. There is no proof that struggle leads us to success.  Actually the focus on battling through life seems to undermine any goals of peace and happiness.
The key seems to be to look at life through different eyes; to let go of fear and strife, and to replace them with effortless and creative living.

So with this in mind, this post is not just a recipe for wonderfully tasty cured salmon, but my proof that effortless living is the secret to joy 🙂

For this dish you need to do nothing more than wrap some fish in salt, sugar and dill. Let some days pass (they will do that all on their own) and then enjoy the experience of  a beautifully, clean tasting, tender piece of cured salmon.

(And just to prove that ease and adventure go together hand in hand, see “tips and variations” below for a truly wild way of making gravlax.)

 

Ingredients
400g fresh salmon skin on
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
a large bunch of dill

 

Recipe

1. Rinse the salmon and pat dry with kitchen paper.
2. Place a double layer of cling film on your counter top. Place half the dill on the cling film.
3. Combine salt and sugar. And rub all over the fish.
4. Place fish on cling film and dill. Top with remaining dill.
5. Wrap fish tightly in cling film and place into a (zip lock) bag.
6. Put the parcel in a Tupperware container or oven dish.
7. Place a plate or chopping board on the fish and weigh it down with heavy objects. (Or completely forget about this step as I sometimes seem to do.)
8. Keep the salmon in the fridge for 3-5 days. It is best to turn the fish once a day to ensure even curing.
9. Unwrap the fish and discard the dill.
10. Rinse, pat dry and remove the skin.
11. Cutting against the grain, serve in thin slices.
12. The cured fish keeps for at least one week in the refrigerator.

 

Tips & Variations

Consider some of the following

• add a little crushed black pepper to the salt and sugar
• drizzle the fish with a tablespoon of vodka or aquavit
• Add lemon zest

 

Adventurous Gravad Lax

A friend of mine shared his way of making Gravlax with me. It is so much more exciting & wild than my “domesticated” recipe. Unfortunately it is a true winter recipe that requires frost. So although winter is hardly gone I am already looking forward to its return to try this myself.

1. Rub the salmon generously with Cognac (he uses Osborne)
2. Wrap the fish in aluminum foil and then in cling film.
3. Bury the fish in the garden about 40cm deep (this is where the name originates from: gravad lax.)
4. Frost!
5. Dig up three weeks later and enjoy.

Thank you GdB for this amazing recipe!

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• appetizer
• breakfast
• entertaining
• fish
• healthy
• low-carb
• make ahead
• quick & easy