Happy birthday to me – yesterday March 23, 2009

As it coincided with Mothers’ day, we started (after my traditional birthday and anniversary breakfast of scrambled egg and smoked salmon) by exchanging presents but mine were much better: a couple of books, CD, DVD, smart jacket for work, 3 months sponsorship of a sick dog in a home and a Ferrari driving session at Silverstone. Spoiled rotten or what?

The sun was out so we walked to a pub a couple of miles away and drank wine at a table outside then strolled back. In the evening we had a lovely (if expensive) meal at a restaurant in the same area. No gardening, no housework, no College work or car cleaning – all the usual weekend occupations. Bliss. Thank you, Sue.

Smoked salmon update March 27, 2008

OK, actually it’s salmon gravlax (cured).

It had to stay in the fridge for a bit longer than the recommended 2 days but it didn’t seem any the worse for that. Lots of liquid came out of the fillets. I drained it once only and turned the fillets to redistribute the salt mixture once a day, as per instructions. I discovered there are similar recipes all over the web, some including limes or vodka, so search away if you fancy something a little different.

So, having rinsed all the salt off, I set about carving it into thin slices. Easier said than done, even with a very sharp, long, narrow knife. I couldn’t cope at first until I sliced the fillets lengthways from about 4″ wide to just 2″. I’m right-handed and found it best to slice from right to left, with the fingers of my left hand pressing lightly over the edge of the blade. Clearly this can be a bit hazardous but I didn’t spill any blood.

Of course I had to taste some at the start plus all the tiny bits that were not worthy of being packed. It had shrunk in the curing process and you can only slice so close to the skin. In the end I had 650g of rather yummy slices – about £18 at typical shop prices – so I’m well satisfied with my efforts.

Home-made smoked salmon? March 23, 2008

Nearly.

I’ve never posted anything about food or cooking before. I like both but I’m no expert.

However, Tesco had a special yesterday: whole fresh salmon for £2.99/kg. So I bought one.

I’ve just filleted it and got about 1.5 kg, which would cost about £20 from our regular fish supplier. The whole fish cost less than £10. So far so good.

The smaller side will be cooked for dinner tomorrow. The larger one is sitting, in 4 portions, in a mix of salt, pepper and sugar in the fridge. The recipe says 2 or 3 days of this will produce salmon gravlax, the Scandinavian, no-smoke, version of the familiar smoked salmon. If it works I will have saved about another £20. And I love smoked salmon. I’ll let you know how it goes.