Recipe: Raspberry Citrus Gravlax

We are about to go away on holidays for a few weeks to Vanuatu! Before I leave Sydney's horrible cold, windy weather behind, I thought I would share with you a lovely little recipe that is good for all year round :) 

As you know, I LOVE gravlax. I am a latecomer to seafood, and it definitely took me a while to get the hang of raw fish! I think what I love about gravlax is that it combines the beautiful subtle flavours that work so well with fish, with a certain bacony-meaty-ness that is just oh so good...

After our beetroot experiments, we decided to have a go using different flavours to cure the salmon. I love the flavour of raspberries - that sweet and sharp taste goes well with so many foods! 

The raspberry colours the salmon beautifully, with a delicate pink tinge.

Photo courtesy of Kiah Westlund

I also love the visual of the salmon fillets bathing in that stunning pink soup! 

Without further delay, the Raspberry Citrus Gravlax recipe! 

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RECIPE: RASPBERRY CITRUS GRAVLAX

Serves many

Ingredients
1 whole salmon, filleted, skinned and pinboned 
(ask your fishmonger to do this for you!)

500g frozen raspberries
250g rock salt
170g raw sugar
1 tbsp mixed peppercorns
Zest of 2 lemons
Zest of 2 oranges
1 bunch of dill
60ml vodka

Method

1. In a food processor, combine all ingredients except salmon, and whizz until smooth.  Pour into a large baking dish that will fit both halves of the salmon and leave on the bench to defrost.

2. Snuggle your salmon fillets into the raspberry mix and make sure they are covered all over. Cover with clingwrap right to the surface of the cure to try and keep the air away from the curing meat. Put in the fridge.

3. After 24 hours, turn the salmon fillets over in the cure and stir the raspberry mix around. There should be a fair amount of juice come out of the salmon, and you want to mix that into the raspberry cure so that the salt can stay close to the meat.

4. After another 24 hours, take the salmon out of the cure and rinse really well under cold running water. Pat dry with paper towel or a clean tea towel, and wrap tightly in cling wrap. Store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

5. To serve, slice the gravlax as thin as you can (with a very sharp knife)! It's great with cream cheese, lemon and dill on some lovely rye bread, but try it however you like! 

Enjoy!

Glorious Gravlax!

Over the last few years I have been experimenting with curing and preserving meats.  I always thought that this was really difficult, or complicated, or possibly dangerous to eat - how wrong could I be! The first project was home cured bacon, which was totally delicious, then last Christmas I tried making cured salmon for the first time, adapted from a recipe by Jamie Oliver.  It was delicious!

The ingredients!

I decided to try making it again to have as part of a rolling finger food buffet at our Post-Thesis Partay next weekend! We adapted the recipe a bit, increasing the amount of beetroot and salmon and changing the method slightly, but it still turned out as beautiful, cured, pink-tinged salmon fillet. Amended recipe is at the end of this post!
 

The cure mix (without the beetroot)

The Post-Thesis Partay has become a bit of a tradition amongst my friends.  It was started by Checks quite a few years ago - when he finished his Honours thesis, he invited us over to eat Thesis Steak, which is steak marinated in a mixture of soy, sugar, shallots and sugar, and then barbecued.  So tasty! 

The salmon sitting on half the cure, waiting for the other half!

This year we have at least 5 people who have finished Honours or PhD theses, so a mass party was in order! People are coming to our house throughout the afternoon and evening (as prior commitments allow) and we'll be eating, drinking, playing games and chuckling heartily.

The salmon buried in cure, ready for pressing in the fridge

Because people are coming and going, rather than having a "meal" together, we are going to have various rounds of finger food! Morsels of thesis steak, cheese, gravlax, bread, dip... The details aren't decided yet, but I'm looking forward to it!

The finished, cured salmon, ready for eating!

Fortunately my lovely husband indulges all of my crazy food ideas (cheesemaking kit anyone?), and he helped me put all this together and finish it off this morning, covering himself in salty beetroot juice in the process! The finished product is much firmer texture than the raw salmon fillet, and the beetroot and dill mix surrounding it has coloured the edges of the salmon a glorious pink. We shall enjoy it with a lemony sour cream sauce, on thin toast! 

Without further ado, the recipe!

Glorious Pink Gravlax
(adapted from Jamie Oliver's Gorgeous Beetroot Gravlax) 

Ingredients

1.2kg side of salmon, skinless and pinboned
160g rock salt
50g brown sugar
800g raw beetroot, grated
50ml vodka
Dill, chopped
1 lemon, zested 

Method

Mix together cure ingredients (probably wearing gloves, as the beetroot gets very messy! Spread half the mix in a large Pyrex or ceramic baking dish, place the salmon on top, and pack the rest of the mix on top of the salmon.

Place a large tray, baking dish or chopping board on top of the salmon and fill with weights (I used law textbooks - I knew they'd come in handy again!). Leave in the fridge for 2-3 days to cure.

When you're ready to get it out, scrape all the cure off the salmon and dry it well with paper towel.  Cut very thinly, and enjoy!