It’s world Gin day and we have a beautiful Gin and blackberry cured salmon with horseradish crème fraîche recipe for you to try!
Serves 6-12 people
Ingredients
Salmon
400g salmon fillet, skinned
1 cup blackberries
35g dill (approx.1.5 bunches)
1.5 tbsp sea salt flakes
2 tbsp light brown sugar
1.5 tbsp coriander seeds, crushed
2 tbsp mixed peppercorns, crushed
45ml Brockmans gin
2 lemons, zest and juice
2 tbsp dijon mustard
7 slices of dense, seeded bread (optional)
Horseradish crème fraîche
4 tbsp crème fraîche
2 tsp horseradish
2 tsp lemon juice
Sprinkle of finely chopped dill
Instructions
1. Take your bowl and crush the blackberries with a fork to create a juicy pulp. Place the bowl to one side. Finely chop 2/3 of the dill and put the un-chopped dill back into the fridge.
2. Create the curing mix. Combine the crushed blackberries, chopped dill, salt, sugar, coriander seeds, peppercorns, zest and juice of 1 lemon and Brockmans gin in a bowl. Mix until well combined.
3. Spoon half of the mixture onto a large baking tray, covering an area approximately the size of the salmon. Lay the salmon on top and cover with the remaining marinade mix.
4. Cover tightly with cling film and refrigerate for 24 hours. Make sure to turn the salmon once in this time and recover with cling film.
5. After 24 hours has passed lift the salmon out of the marinade (keeping the mixture in the tray) and wash the salmon to remove the salt. Pat dry with kitchen roll. Return the salmon back to the tray and place on top of the marinade.
6. Finely chop the rest of the dill and in a bowl combine the mustard, juice and zest of 1 lemon and dill.
7. Spread the mustard mixture over the top of the salmon. Cover with cling film again and put back into the fridge for another 4 hours.
8. To make the horseradish crème fraîche combine the crème fraîche, horseradish, lemon juice and dill. Refrigerate until needed.
9. After 4 hours, take the salmon out of the mixture and brush off the excess mustard. Slice the salmon thinly.
10. To serve as a starter for 6 people, simply place about 3 slices of salmon onto a plate with a spoon of the horseradish crème fraîche. Or, to serve more like canapés, toast your seeded bread and slice off the crusts of each slice and cut into three small rectangular pieces. Do this for all the slices and top with a small slice of salmon and dollop of crème fraîche.