Home Made Gravlax

  

I had no idea how easy it was to make fresh homemade gravlax!  My friend Jody makes it all the time and I finally got on board to try it myself.   Here's what I did:

Ingredients:

2 lbs of salmon - skin off. I hate to say it but farm raised with fat works best.  Wild is too lean for this recipe.  

1/2 cup kosher salt

1/2 cup sugar

A big bunch of fresh dill 

3 Tablespoons of peppercorns 

Preparation: 

Slice salmon down the center so you have two long even pieces that can lay on top of each other in missionary position.  In a bowl, combine sugar, salt, and peppercorns.  Put the bottom of the salmon in a Pyrex dish and lay a big bunch of dill down on the salmon.  Place the top of the salmon over the dill so you have a dill sandwich basically.  Then sprinkle 1/2 of the salt mixture on top, flip the whole operation over, and sprinkle the rest of the salt on the other side.  Cover the dish with aluminum foil and weight it down with another smaller dish and a few soup cans on top.  You are essentially creating a press for the fish to cure under.   Refrigerate for 2-3 days, turning the fish bundle over every 12 hours or so and basting with brining liquid.   Honestly I forgot to flip mine a bunch of times because I was very busy watching TV and making mad passionate love.  The first part of that was true.  Anyway, you can't screw this up.  After the curing is done, rinse the fish of all the salt and whatnot and slice it up thinly. Serve on a bagel or toasted challah with cream cheese or whatevz.  I made a simple dill sauce cuz I'm fancy like that.  

Dill Sauce:

Dump 4 T of Temptee cream cheese in a bowl with 1 T of mayo, 2 T of chopped dill, 2T of fresh lemon juice, 1 T of shallot or red onion, salt, pepper, and hot sauce to taste.  Mix.  Schmere.