Gravadlax

There are some recipes that have sat on my 'to do' list since the very beginning of this venture. Gravadlax is one of those. It had never made it to the top of the list, not because it was difficult, but because if you are going to cure fish rather than cook it the fish needs to be super-fresh. There just aren't all that many places where you can guarantee that fact.

Last week I had a trip out west to Cheltenham, so I was able to detour back via a very pretty Cotswold village called Bibury, which just so happens to have a trout farm. I cross-questioned the fishmonger and managed to obtain a trout that had been pulled fresh from the river the same day.

Bibury:


Very pleased with my purchase I meandered back home to fillet and cure my fish.

For my one medium-sized trout (about 400g), I chopped a handful of fresh dill and sprinkled it over the flesh of one fillet. I then mixed together a teaspoon each of coarse salt, caster sugar, and crushed black peppercorns. This was layered on top of the dill:



After that I placed the other fillet flesh-side down onto the salt mixture, so that the two fillets were face to face with the skin at top and bottom. I placed the whole lot in a dish, covered it with foil and weighted it down. I just used another dish with a couple of tins in it as a weight. Its important that the weight is as evenly distributed as possible across the fish.

Everything went into the fridge after that for 48 hours. I turned it every 6 or 12 hours (depending when I was actually in to do it!), basting it with the liquid from the dish when I did so.

In the end my fish was actually left curing for closer to 72 hours than 48, but that seemed fine.

When the time is up, scrape/brush off the salt and dill cure and pat the fish dry.



Slice it as thinly as you can, and serve. We had our Gravadlax with toasted sourdough bread, salad, and a yoghurt, mustard and dill dressing:



It was worth the wait! Buttery, flavourful, and gorgeous. For those of a squeemish disposition, it really doesn't taste raw - its more like the texture of smoked salmon.

If you can ever get your hands on fresh trout I highly recommend giving this a go. Its delicious and pleasingly easy!