Over the last five years the cookery writer Diana Henry has travelled to chilly climates in a quest for the sort of recipes that can warm the soul when the weather outside is wintry. In the next of our series of snow foods, she shows Anna McNamee how to prepare a Scandinavian classic...
“Roast Figs, Sugar Snow: Food to Warm the Soul” by Diana Henry, published by Mitchell Beazley ISBN 1 84000 888 1
Recipe: Gin and juniper cured salmon with apple and fennel cream
This makes quite a large amount but there never seems to be much point in curing a small piece of salmon. Besides it will provide you with pre-supper snacks for days.
for the cured salmon (serves at least 10):
1.5 kg piece of salmon in two halves, (preferably organic), filleted but skin left on
1 tbs chopped fennel fronds (from the heads below)
8tbs gin
50g sea salt flakes
75g caster sugar
2 tbs freshly ground black pepper
15g chopped fresh dill
3/4 tbs crushed juniper berries
for the cream (enough for 10-12):
2 small tart apples
2 small heads fennel
300ml sour cream
2 tsp caster sugar
5 tsp grain mustard
big squeeze of lemon
1.Run your hand over the salmon flesh to make sure there are no little bones in it. If there are, remove them with tweezers.
2. Remove the feathery fronds from the fennel and chop them.
3.Spread out a piece of foil big enough to wrap round the salmon. Rub gin all over the two pieces of salmon and set one piece of it on the foil, skin –side- down. Pour a little more gin over the fleshy side of the salmon, then mix the salt, sugar, pepper, dill, juniper and fennel fronds together and press this on top of the salmon. Sprinkle with a little more gin. Put the other piece of salmon on top, skin- side -up. Sprinkle a little more gin on top.
4. Fold the foil round the salmon to make a package. Set it on a wire rack (like a grill rack) and put this onto a platter or set in a roasting tin that can catch the liquid as it leaches out of the salmon. Place a weight – such as a chopping board - on top and put in the fridge. Turn the salmon package from time to time while it is curing. You can leave it for anything from 1 day to 6 days.
5. To make the cream, remove any tough outer leaves from the fennel and trim the ends. Cut the bulb into quarters lengthways and carefully slice the central core out of each piece. Cut the fennel into fine strips, about the length of your index finger. Halve and core the apple and cut it into strips too. Mix the fennel and apple with the sour cream, sugar and mustard, taste and add a squeeze of lemon if you think it needs it. Cover and keep in the fridge.
6. Unwrap the package and scrape the salt and sugar off the salmon. Using a very sharp knife cut the salmon flesh horizontally into thin slices, leaving the skin behind. Serve with the apple and fennel cream and thin slices of buttered rye or pumpernickel bread. |
