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