Homemade Gravlax

I’ve been planning to make my own gravlax for quite a while now and I knew I couldn’t let my beautiful bunch of dill go to waste. They had an awesome deal at my local grocer on Norwegian salmon fillets and it was just meant to be. Gravlax is fairly easy to prepare…it’s just a 2-3 day waiting period before you can dig in....but its worth the wait!

If you’re bored with your usual preparation of salmon, having gravlax is a nice alternative. It’s simply cured in a 50:50 salt and sugar curing mix with a whole bunch of chopped up dill, allowed to sit pressed with a ton of cans for 2-3 days. The result is refreshing, similar to having fresh salmon sashimi but with a smoked salmon texture without the smoke. Serve it up with dill sprigs, crème fraiche, mustard dill sauce and some blinis…or in a salad!

my trusty weights!

gorgeous and fragrant bunch of dill

I served mine with toasted whole wheat pita, mustard dill sauce, capers and a spritz of lemon juice...If I had caviar on hand, i'd probably add that on there too!

Gravlax

1 whole fillet Fresh Salmon (skin on)

1/3 c salt

1/3 sugar

1 bunch dill

Mustard Dill Sauce

1 T whole grain mustard

1 T dijon mustard

½ C yogurt

¼ C mayo

1 clove garlic (minced)

½ dill (chopped finely)

¼ milk

1 T lemon juice

kosher salt

pepper

Make sure you have extra space in your fridge. Roughly chop half of your dill and mix with salt and sugar, set aside. I used 2 9x13 in pans for this and you may have to slice the tail of the salmon to make it fit in the pan.  Lay a large overlapping sheet of saran wrap on one pan, sprinkle half of the curing mix on the bottom and lay the fish skin side down, then sprinkle with the rest of your curing mix, lay a few sprigs of dill on top and cover with another sheet of saran wrap and seal the package. Lay the other pan on top and weigh it down with soup cans…weights…etc. I used 8 cans. Place in the fridge and forget about it for 3 days. After the 3 days, take it out discard all the dill and water, rinse the fillet under cold running water and dry with paper towels. With a very sharp knife slice on a diagonal very thin slices and lay on a plate. Garnish with more dill sprigs, capers, thin slices of red onions and wedges of lemon or whatever you like!