Rick Stein’s beetroot-cured salmon with cucumber & apple pickle

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Ingredients

For the Cure

  • 250g beetroot, boiled until tender
  • 100g coarse salt
  • 75g white sugar
  • 2 tsp caraway seeds, crushed
  • 2 tsp white peppercorns
  • 1kg salmon fillet halved

For the Salad

  • 4 dessert apples
  • 1 small red onion peeled
  • 2 cucumbers
  • 6 tsp cider vinegar
  • 2 tsp rapeseed oil
  • 2 tsp horseradish cream
  • 1/2 tsp of salt
  • 1 tsp sugar5
  • Handfull dill fronds, roughly chopped

Method

  1. Peel the beetroot and, together with the sea salt, sugar, caraway seeds and white pepper, blitz to a puréein a blender. Smear the cure all over the salmon flesh and sanwich the fillets together with the skin-side outermost. Wrap in two or three layers of cling film and place on a shallow tray. Rest a smaller tray or chopping board on top and weigh it down with tins or weights. Refrigerate for 2 days, turning the fish every 12 hours.

  2. When ready to serve, discard any excess cure from teh salmon. Slice as you would smoked salmon: across teh fillet in thin slices with the knife at an angle, then close to the skin to release the flesh. Arrange on a serving plate.

  3. For the salad, use a mandolin or very sharp knife to slice the apple, red onion and cucumber into wafer-thin slices and put in a bowl. Combine the cider vinegar, oil, horsradish cream, salt and sugar to make a dressing and pour over the salad. Toss well. Dress with the dill, and serve alongside the salmon.