Gravad Lax

So recently I bought this cookbook entitled Swedish Cooking- from where else? Yes, Ha. Ikea. However, upon flip-through, I could tell this was not a commercial giant watered-down frozen meatball cookbook! It was also not dumbed-down Swedish cooking for Americans (I HATE books like that!). It has a recipe for Blood Soup. YES! Blood Soup! Any cookbook that has enough culinary gumption to include a recipe for blood anything must be bought -at once.

So now I am the proud owner of Swedish Cooking that includes Svartsoppa, but that's not what I feel like talking about today. What I feel calling to me today is...Gravad Lax.

I love Salmon. I think I started loving Salmon when I lived in Alaska and people kept giving me free Salmon for my freezer which I found to be infinitely better than the free moose-meat that started taking over my freezer. I have discovered though, that I prefer the variety of non-cooked salmon dishes to cooked. Give me smoked salmon lox, gravad lax or salmon sushi rather than a cooked fillet any day of the week. So, it is in homage to raw and semi-raw salmon, that I present the following recipe from my wonderful new cookbood entitled Swedish Cooking that has Blood Soup, (printed in Germany by Naumann & Göbel Verlagsgesellschaft mbH). I'm going to paraphrase the instructions and my comments are in *stars*

Gravad Lax (serves 4) *that's about 1/2 lb fish per person, which seems like alot imo*

3 bunches fresh dill, chopped fine
4 T salt
5 T sugar
2.25 lb or 1kg salmon, boned and filleted, with skin on. *This equals 2 pieces*
1 T. peppercorns *grind*
mustard seed to taste *grind*
allspice to taste *grind*

Spread half of the dill on a plate and lay one half of the fish skin side down in the dill. Using half the salt and sugar, rub into the fish. Then season with the black pepper, mustard and allspice. Repeat with the remaining half. Fold up both pieces with the skin on the outside, wrap up and chill in the fridge for 3 days.

*One point is a little obscure with the recipe...do you put any fresh dill on the flesh of the fish? I think that according to the recipe, the dill might solely be for the skin of the fish- which doesn't get eaten, by the way. However, I love dill, so I think I'd use some on the flesh as well.*

After 3 days of marinating in the fridge, you "extract the marinated salmon from its skin and the spices" (love it!) and slice thin. It is recommended to be served on crispbread with mustard-dill sauce. The sauce is as follows:

Dill-Mustard Sauce
5 T sweet swedish mustard *substitute spicy brown and add sugar to taste, it's sort of a honey-mustard taste- that would work too actually :)*
4 T. vinegar
3 T sugar
1 t salt & .5 t pepper (or to taste)
3/4 c oil
2 bunches dill, chpd fine

Blend the mustard, vinegar, sugar and salt and pepper together and beat until the sugar is dissolved. Add the oil slowly and whisk to incorporate. Stir in the dill and keep cold.

Well, that's that. If you ever wanted to make your own gravad lax, now you know how. It's very tasty, I love it. No, I'm not doing photo today. I'm in an anti-camera mood, mostly because I'm redoing the kitchen and it's a total disaster area- no floors, walls, counters, stove, nothing. Makes cooking interesting! Sorta like camping- but in your house and no s'mores.

I need to find out how to make smoked lox. I know that you use a cold smoke, - hot smoke would cook the fish and you'd have jerky, but I'm sort of a noob when it comes to the ways of do-it-yourself smoking. I'll have to research it further. One day, I'm going to own my own smoke-house where I will be able to produce all sorts of smoked delicacies! One day! Oh, speaking of smoked fish, have you ever had smoked trout? or smoked whitefish? Delicious.

Enjoy the Gravad Lax!

Mmmm Mussels

Happy New Years!!! Almost!!! I had mussels for dinner tonight, and they are so good and so easy, I wanted to share this super quick and simple way to a seafood feast. No straining involved, I promise. Trust me, I spent the day at the Met herding my kids (Tapestry exhibit is marvelous by the way!), so the last thing I wanted to do was anything involving large amounts of effort. You will enjoy this.

5 lbs. mussels
3 T. butter
2 T. extra virgin olive oil
6 oz. white wine
3 cloves garlic
2 stalks celery, or the heart of the celery, with leaves
Italian parsley if you have it

If you buy your mussels from a good seafood purveyor, then they should be scrubbed and ready to go. All they should need is a nice rinse.
Mince the garlic, and cut the celery paper thin, and chop the leaves small. Chop the parsley if you're using it.
In a nice big pot, heat the butter and oil and sweat the garlic and celery, reserving the leaves. When soft, you can add the leaves and then the wine.
Bring the wine to a boil, add the mussels and put the lid on the pot.
Steam the mussels until they open.

I like to serve this with a nice baguette to sop up the delicious broth that will be created, and a nice white wine.

Tonight I used a lovely baguette that had whole garlic baked in. I toasted it on an open griddle, and paired this all with a nice Traminer Riesling. Oh yes! This was a great way to say farewell to the old year and to prepare for the new one! Can't wait for fondue tonight!...it's a midnight thing.

Calamari Fritti

Sigh...I just had the best lunch. I even took a picture it was so tasty! I went to the grocers for a bit of seafood for a gumbo that I'm making, (I'll tell you about that later), and I noticed that they had an excellent deal on calamari. Suddenly the craving hit, especially after chatting with the fish guy and he was telling me his favorite way to eat calamari was fried, with just salt and lemon. How 'bout that! Mine too! It's so simple too. Let me tell you how I do it.

Just a few words in prelude.
1. I'm going to assume that you have cleaned, whole calamari. Many seafood shops will also include the tentacles as well. Personally, I think it's harder to find calamari that hasn't been cleaned, but I'm sure they're out there. I have seen several sites with squid-cleaning instructions online, fyi. However, if you need help let me know.
2.I'm going to assume you know how to fry. That being said, you have two choices. You can deep-fry, or you can pan-fry. Deep-frying is fool-proof and easier, the down-side being you use more oil. If you're confident in your frying abilities, you can pan-fry with excellent results, especially with a small batch. The only key is to make sure both sides are golden. I pan-fried my lunch today because I wanted to use extra-virgin olive oil for the taste and I didn't want expensive waste oil.

Calamari Fritti

oil for frying
calamari, rinse calamari and cut the body into rings. Let excess water drain.
white flour
sea salt
fresh lemon, cut into wedges

Place the calamari into the flour and mix until coated. Place them into a sieve and toss gently to remove excess flour.
Add to hot oil and cook for a few minutes until golden. This really doesn't take long, under 5 minutes for sure.
Sprinkle hot calamari with sea salt and serve with the lemon to be squeezed on as you like.
Serve immediately.


A few words in addendum:
I've seen recipes where people like to add herbs to the flour like basil, italian parsley or thyme, both fresh and dried. I've also seen thicker batters for the calamari that include egg and sometimes milk. I am a fan of the simple and straightforward for this dish and prefer to have the taste of the calamari shine unadulterated. You, however, can do what you want!

Enjoy!