Once you’ve tried this dish, you will hopefully think twice about buying vacuum packed smoked salmon slices! This recipe makes so much deliciousness that you can afford to buy beautiful organic or sock-eye salmon and really get the benefit of the oily fish, without having to think about all the horrors of farmed salmon.
All you need is some sugar, salt and dill fronds, though you could of course switch these for any flavours you love – lemongrass, ginger and coriander are great. The curing process only takes about 48 hours, then just whip up a sauce of your choice - mustard and dill if you’re going for the traditional Scandinavian recipe here, or a lovely soy dipping sauce if you’re going with Asian flavours.
You will need:
2 large fillets of salmon – about 500g each
50g of white sugar
3 tbsp coarse sea salt
3 tbsp chopped fresh dill (or lemongrass etc)
Method:
Make up the pickling mixture by adding the ingredients together in a bowl and seasoning with black pepper. Place one salmon fillet skin side down on some cling film or foil and rub the salt & sugar into it. Place the other one, flesh side down on top of it. Wrap the cling film or foil around the whole thing and place in a large dish. Put a plate on top and then weigh down the fish with some heavy cans. Put it in the fridge and then turn it over every so often. It should be ready in 1-3 days.
When you are ready to eat it, lift the fish out of the salty liquid and dry it well. Separate the fillets and slice each one fairly thickly. You should be able to see the dill fronds on the edges. Garnish with lemon and more fresh dill and eat with a lovely mustard and dill sauce.