Gravlax on a Spinach Salad

Gravlax on a spinach salad is such a good mix! The crunchy texture of the spinach goes perfectly with the tender salmon and the sweet mustard dressing. If you do a Gravlax and you have leftovers and would like to eat it a different way maybe, try this salad.

This salmon is made with a simple dry marinade of equal parts salt and sugar with an extra dill, nothing more… There are many recipes out there, some add gin, lemon zest etc… you decide of the extras you’d like. The dish was made by fishermen from the Middle age, in the northern part of Europe. They used to salt the salmon, they freshly caught, and then ditch them in the sand, by the sea, to ferment. Nowadays, we simply brine the salmon.

Just need to plan it ahead, because it takes a minimum of 24 hours to marinate. I usually do it in 48 hours, changing the side of the fish midway. The best part for it would be the less fatty part of the salmon, but in my case I got a fat part to test it and the result is simply that the salt doesn’t have time to travel through fast enough, so the texture is slightly softer. In both case though, it’s still delicious.

Let’s do this salad!

Gravlax on a Spinach salad

Ingredients

Salad

• A bag of spinach
• few thinly sliced onion
• cherry tomatoes
• salt, pepper

Gravlax

• 350g salmon (can be 2 times 175g)
• 300g white sugar
• 300g salt
• 4 tbsp dill (dry) *more if fresh
• a little pepper

Sweet mustard and dill dressing

• 3 tbsp dijon mustard (if possible: white wine dijon one)
• 2 tbsp honey or maple syrup
• 4 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil (If you intend to do a salad dressing with it, add 2 tbsp)
• 3 tbsp lemon juice, or cider, white balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp of dry dill

Directions

1. Wash you salmon and check if there is bones left, pat dry
2. In a bowl, add the salt, sugar, dill and pepper, mix
3. Add the salmon, skin side down, to a deep enough bowl, add the dry marinade
4. Rub it on the salmon, then make sure half is on top of the fish.
5. Wrap the whole plate up, many times, with plastic wrap
6. Leave in the fridge for 48 hours, with pressure on it, like a pickle jar, and switch side after the first 24 hours.
7. When ready, take the salmon out of the not so dry anymore marinade, rinse it quickly then pat dry
8. Add the salmon, skin down, on a cutting board, and with a sharp knife, take the skin off
9. Cut into small, thin slices
10. Reserve your leftovers of salmon in the same marinade, to use for the next day

Sweet mustard and dill dressing

1. Add all the ingredients to a bowl, mix it up
2. Pour over the assembled salad

Enjoy with a few capers!