I can’t believe how easy it is to make gravlax.  Or let me rephrase that statement –  I can’t believe it’s so easy to make gravlax, and it’s taken me until now to try it!

Like some of my other favorite things — sauerkraut, salt preserved lemons, sun pickles, and sour beets to name a few — the basic procedure to make homemade lox is add salt, wait, eat.  Sure, you can add in some herbs and other seasonings as you desire, but the basic procedure remains the same.

This particular batch of gravlax I made last week as an appetizer for my sister Alisha’s Thanksgiving feast.  To serve, I put a dollop of creme fraiche on some substantial yet neutral tasting crackers, topped with a generous slice of lox and a couple of capers, and topped it all off with a paper thin slice of meyer lemon.  It was amazingly delicious, and within just a few minutes the entire plate was eaten!  It was a total hit!

The basic cure I’ve listed above is clean tasting, and not very salty.  Many recipes I came across had a 1:1 salt/sugar ratio (even as high as 2:1 salt/sugar), but since I was serving to a crowd that is salt-sensitive, I decided to go with a cure that was more like 2:3 salt/sugar.  You can go as high as 1:2 salt/sugar, but I imagine I would find this to be overly sweet.  Anyhow, what all these numbers and ratios should tell you is that the way to go is to experiment with a cure until you find something that works for your taste buds.

If you want a more complexly flavored gravlax, you might consider adding crushed juniper berries, black pepper, fennel seeds or fronds, or even something like crushed coriander seeds — just sprinkle on top of the fish before adding the dill.  And a note about the dill — every single recipe I came across called for dill (in varying amounts), so to make traditional gravlax, it seems the dill is  just about as important as the fish, the salt, and the sugar…  but, if you have tried it without, I’d love to hear from you!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Homemade Gravlax (aka Lox)

2 good quality salmon filets that are roughly the same size, approx 1.5 lbs total (I used wild sockeye) *see note
3 T. sugar
2 T. non-iodized salt
1 bunch dill

Remove all of the pin bones from the two salmon filets using a pair of tweezers. Trim the filets so they are the same size when stacked on top of each other. Place both filets skin side down on a cutting board.

Mix sugar and salt together in a small bowl. Generously sprinkle about 2/3 the mixture over the filets and gently rub in. Flip the filets over and sprinkle skins with the remaining mixture and rub in. Flip the filets again so the skin side is down. Let stand for about 5-8 minutes. Brush off any cure that seems excessive to you.

Trim dill so that it is roughly the same length as the filets. Mound dill on top of one filet in an even layer, then top with other filet so that the flesh is in contact with the dill (think filet & dill sandwich). Wrap the stacked filets tightly in a double or triple layer of plastic wrap. Place in a dish (to catch any juices that should leak out), then refrigerate for 2-3 days, flipping occasionally, and pouring off any juices that might have accumulated.

Once the 2-3 days have passed, unwrap salmon, discard the dill, and rinse the filets with cold water. Remove the skin to make cutting easier, if desired. Slice the gravlax thinly with a sharp knife across the grain to serve. Enjoy!

*Note: though it may seem counter-intuitive, choose fish that has been previously frozen, sushi grade or other. If using fresh fish, you should freeze it for at least 1 week in order kill off bacteria, etc.

Salt and sugar cure on the salmon

Salmon wrapped in plastic, about to go into refrigerator

Salmon after 2 1/2 day cure

Finished product!  Ready to serve!

Deviled Eggs

12 hard-boiled eggs
3 – 4T. mayonnaise
1 T. mustard
1/2 T. apple cider vinegar
1 T. finely chopped pickled cocktail onions
1 T. pickled onion juice
1/2 T. dried dill (or 1 T. fresh)
1/2 t. cayenne pepper
Paprika, for garnish

Carefully peel hard-boiled eggs, being careful not to break the whites.  Slice the eggs in half vertically.  Carefully press or spoon out yolks into a medium mixing bowl and reserve whites.  Add mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, pickled onions, onion juice, dill, and cayenne.  Mix until smooth (I buzzed the mixture with a hand blender for an extra smooth consistency).

If you have a pastry bag, fill it with the yolk mixture;  otherwise, fill a plastic sandwich bag with the yolk mixture, then cut the corner from the bag to make a make-shift pastry bag.  Arrange the egg whites on a serving dish, then pipe the yolk mixture into the egg halves.  Garnish with a sprinkle of paprika.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Ah, deviled eggs — an unsophisticated American classic… simple but loved, plain but comforting… a little creamy, eggy, savory, vinegar-y — what’s not to like?

Steven asked me to make these for a barbecue we had last weekend before going to a Stevie Wonder concert at Shoreline Amphitheater.  As we were going to see an American musical icon, we decided to go with a pretty traditional, comfort-style menu — deviled eggs, slow-cooked ribs, sausages, pulled pork, corn, melon, berries, and a lemon-berry tart (recipe coming soon!)

And even though these were the most prolific appetizer (there were 24!), they were the first to disappear.  I’ll admit to throwing back at least 2, but really, there were only 8 people here by the time these ran out!  That’s the sign of a successful appetizer!

There are as many different ways to make deviled eggs as there are chickens on the earth, and I’m curious to know how YOU like to make deviled eggs.  Here I added some pickled onion juice for some flair — what do you add? do you make yours spicy? pickle-y? salty?

Dilly Wax Beans

1-2 handfuls wax beans, trimmed
1 T. Olive Oil
1 t. white vinegar
~1/2 t. dried dill (or 1 t. fresh)
~1/4 t. red pepper flakes (or more to taste)

Steam wax beans until crisp-tender, about 4 minutes.  Meanwhile, mix the oil, vinegar, dill, and red pepper in a large bowl.  Add steamed wax beans and toss to coat.  Serve warm, or chill for 30 minutes and serve cold.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

This barely qualifies as a recipe, but these wax beans were so simple and tasty, I decided to share.

A couple weekends ago I was strolling through the Palo Alto farmer’s market when I came across two mountains of beans piled on a red checked table cloth;  one pile was blue lake green beans, and the other was gorgeous cream-colored wax beans.  I love green beans, but haven’t cooked much with wax beans since they’re generally less available than their green counterpart.  Feeling like I wanted to try something different, I grabbed a couple of big handfuls of the wax beans, and headed home to experiment.

Once home, I considered my options: pickled, steamed, roasted, sauteed, boiled — but yet none seemed to really ‘go’ with that night’s dinner… so, into the fridge went the beans, to be prepared at some later date.

And then life got busy — I got sick, work got busy, visitors came, I went out of town — and still the beans remained unused in the fridge…  About two weeks after purchasing them, I was digging through my tiny fridge and came across them.  Amazingly, they still looked great!  That’s one thing I LOVE about farmer’s market produce — it is SO FRESH, and it tends to keep longer than store bought produce.

So, grand plans aside, I quickly steamed the beans, and then tossed them with some olive oil, vinegar, dill, and red pepper flakes, then chilled the mixture while I prepared the rest of my dinner.  The result reminded me a little of marinated three bean salad, but with a simpler, cleaner taste.  And oddly, though I don’t love dill + green beans, dill + wax beans turned out to be a great combination!  Who’d have thought?

Anyhow, what are your favorite ‘non-recipe recipes’?