Gravlax or Gravadlox is a must have for any Chef’s recipe book!  Smoked Salmon as Great as it is tends to be expensive to purchase and not as easy to do yourself as Cured Salmon such as Gravlax.

  You can use Gravlax for many different dishes and presentations that will impress and WOW your guests…and the best part is the main cost is the fresh Salmon filet’s.  Gravlax is extremely easy to cure…the worst part is waiting for it!

• 2 Salmon Filet’s, I like larger filet’s myself
• 200 grams Sea Salt
• 455 grams Sugar
• 20 grams Cracked White pepper
• 2 Bu Dill, Chopped
• 2 Lemons, juiced, use the zest as well
• 30 grams Olive oil
• 3/4 ounce Aquavit (or toast 1/4 caraway seeds and steep with vodka)

Trim the Salmon filet’s of fat.  Make sure to leave the skin on!  I place the filet’s in a 4 inch deep hotel pan and drizzle with Olive oil, lemon juice, and the Aquavit.  I combine all the other ingredients together in a bowl and mix together well.  Cover the Salmon filet’s thoroughly with the curing mixture and cover with a layer of plastic wrap.  Now place another 4 inch hotel pan on top and add weight.  Bricks, No 10 cans, whatever you have available? Refrigerate.

The Hard part is waiting!  I like to give it at least 2 weeks curing time.

The term ” Gravlax” means -to put to bed.  It is an old Scandinavian preservation method for fish.  People would use this cure and wrap the fish well and bury deep enough in the ground to stay cold.  Preserved in this manner for a long time they could come back later and dig it up when they needed food!

Salmon Gravlax goes very well with many things, my favorite sauce for it is sweet mustard, kind of like Mucky Duck?

Sweet Mustard Sauce

• 1/3 Cup Dark Brown Sugar
• 2/3 Cup Whole Grain Dijon Mustard
• some Chopped Dill

Super easy just mix everything together.  I love this mustard so much I use it on lots of other things!

• 2 Lg Shallots
• 2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
• 3/4 cup vinegar
• 1 Egg
• 1 1/2 cup Olive oil
• 1 1/2 cup Corn or Canola

Finely chop shallots and mix with Dijon mustard with a whip or in a Cuisinart.  Add in you egg ( yes raw), then your ready to slowly add your oil emulsifying the whole mixture.  Season well with salt and white or black pepper.

The beauty of the Vinaigrette is the endless variations.  Herbs such as thyme, rosemary, chervil, tarragon and many others.  Garlic is always a welcome addition, if you want some zing!  Your creativity can be inspired to try one of the many different types of vinegar, Sherry being among my favorites.

You can play with one of the many different nut oils such as Hazelnut or Walnut.  I personnally prefer to half nut and half a neutral corn or canola oil to prevent having to strong of a flavor.  Other ingredients that are excellant are finely chopped anchovies, horseradish, curry or even yolks from hard boiled eggs for a richer flavor.

One of my favorite Chef’s Joel Robuchon has been known to use minced Truffles!  Oh so yummy!  Another trick of his for vinaigrettes for meat and fish is to add some of the pan juices to the vinaigrette.  Definitely a Great idea in my book! 

Hope this helps you find new, fun, and creative uses for such an easy sauce.

Asparagus salad Titantic Dinner, originally uploaded by Jake on Food.

One of my favorite sauces for pasta!  I love the savoury flavor of sage!

Also very good with Pork or Chicken from the saute’ pan or grill!

Sauce should have a slightly brown color from the mushrooms, it should have a distinct taste of sage and be thick enough to coat pasta.

Delicous sauce ideal for Pork or Chicken!

Place toasted pistachios and sage in a food processor or blender. Puree together slowly adding olive oil. Add a dash of salt and pepper and set aside.

Season chicken breasts. Heat peanut oil in a saute pan until it is hot. Lightly coat chicken in flour and place in saute pan cooking until golden brown on one side. Flip chicken breasts and cook on low heat untill cooked through.

Remove chicken and drizzle with pesto, seve with your favorite side dish.