9.26.2011

Birthday Gravlax: Secret Recipe Club

Amy writes:

It's Chris's birthday and he and a bunch of buddies have headed to Northern Vermont for a guys' weekend. Not being a guy myself, I'm not exactly sure what goes on at these weekends, but I imagine fire, meat, whiskey and cigars at the very least. I doubt I'm off base.

Meanwhile, here in CT, I'm doing some fall nesting, part of which is preparing for this month's Secret Recipe Club. We were assigned Delishhh, a food blog by Ewa who was born in Sweden. Delishhh is filled with recipes from all over the globe, but since I've never made anything Swedish (not even a meatball...), I headed right to her Swedish Food section. It was then I realized that I was facing a perfect convergence of events - while Chris is away, I can spend the weekend preparing Delishhh's recipe for one of his favorite foods (gravlax), and when he comes home, he can detox from his meat-and-fire-filled weekend with some flavorfully cured raw salmon.



Gravlax is one of Sweden's most famous dishes. Being new to Swedish cuisine, I decided to stay with Ewa's tried and true recipe, even preparing the "Hovmästarsås," or mustard sauce, accompaniment. I purchased a beautiful piece of salmon fillet and rubbed it with a salt, sugar, and white pepper mixture as instructed.


I added chopped dill, wrapped the fish tightly in plastic wrap, and placed it in a zip-type bag inside the refrigerator to cure for the weekend, turning the salmon three times each day.



When it was ready, I served it over grilled rye bread with the mustard sauce drizzled over it. Chris was both surprised and thrilled at the result, pronouncing it indeed "Delishhh," and saying he could eat it every day. Even better, he has it all to himself, as nothing about gravlax is, as my friend Joanne would say, "Amy-approved" - neither salmon (raw or cooked), nor dill, nor mustard sauce. Happy Birthday, Chris! And thank you, Ewa!

14 comments:

Joanne said...

So proud of you!

Delishhh said...

WOW - I am so impressed lookes awesome, and i love your step by step pictures! I am with Chris, i love this stuff so much that i could eat it every day, on some toast. I am so glad he enjoyed it and his birthday was a hit.

Sam Hoffer / My Carolina Kitchen said...

Who wouldn't be thrilled with this. Happy birthday Chris. I popped over from Wives with Knives where I fell in love with your potato gratin muffins that Cathy featured.
Sam

Rhonda said...

How nice of you to make gravlax when you don't even like salmon. Looks like you did a beautiful job of it also. As for me, I love it but then again I do have some ancestral Swedish blood running through my veins.

Plain Chicken said...

I've never had Gravlax - looks really good. My husband would devour this dish!

Christine's Pantry said...

Happy birthday Chris. Vermont is my home state. Great recipe.

Kelly | Eat Yourself Skinny said...

What a great post for SRC, this looks amazing! :)

veronica@mycatholickitchen.com said...

I was always afraid of making gravlaxs in fear of messing up. I think I will try your recipe and see how it goes. Thanks for sharing with us.

Eliotseats said...

Looks like a challenging dish. I think I would have been scared off. Great post!!

Georgie said...

I admire that you took a chance and prepared something so daring! AA perfect surprise B-Day gift for your partner! It's nice discovering you on SRC. I'm also in CT - nice to meet you neighbor!

marla {family fresh cooking} said...

Perfect for breakfast or brunch! Awesome to be in the Secret Recipe Club with you. Here is my post from group C - http://su.pr/2rtACr

Angie - Big Bears Wife said...

I don't cook much fish, because I'm not really good at cooking fish, but this makes me want to try again!

Glad to be in Group C with you!

Unknown said...

This certainly is a more economical option than buying it in the store.

FabFrugalFood said...

Beeeeooooooooo-tiful!

Donna
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