Home cured salmon. A delicious twist on a traditional gravlax. Fruity blueberries, spicy notes of dill and a salty sweet edge. This cured salmon is beautiful and delicious.
This dish is the second dish of the week that is pretty simple to prepare but looks impressive and is perfect for serving when you have friends for dinner. Did you see my Saffron and Prawn Linguine?
A couple of weeks ago I got the most amazing side of salmon from our local fisho. It was so fresh! Flown in overnight from Tasmania. Without going to Tassy myself and starting this dish as the fish came off the boat, I couldn't have got much fresher!!!
Isn't the colour of this Blueberry Cured Salmon amazing!
Lydia at Fisho is fabulous!!! If you are anywhere south of Perth, then they are the best place to get your fish! I cut a few slices off to enjoy raw in a sushi rice bowl. Didn't take any photos of that so the recipe will have to wait for another day! I didn't take photos as when I was drizzling it with soy sauce I encountered what can only be described as a sploshing accident. It wasn't pretty!!! Although it still tasted amazeballs!!! So recipe for that coming another time! Once I get more salmon! 😉
The rest of the salmon I used for two cured salmon dishes. Both were trial recipes that I hoped would work. I am sharing this one as it was delicious. The other needs some minor tweaking (Yet another reason to get some more salmon!!!)
It sounds a little odd, curing salmon with blueberries, but the colour it gives is fabulous and the fruity tart sweetness is perfect with the oily fish. And blueberries work fabulously with dill! I used frozen blueberries for this. You are whizzing them up anyway so there is no issue there.
The recipe calls for gin or vodka. This is to help soften the blueberries and extract as much flavour. As this dish is raw, the alcohol isn't cooked off. Now the marinade is washed off the fish so I was happy to serve this to the kids. But if you have an alcohol free diet, then I would use a splash of apple juice (don't use citrus or vinegar as that will start to cook the fish).
Even before it has rested this blueberry cured salmon is beautiful!
I know there is a lot of salt and sugar in this recipe, but they are designed to draw the moisture from the fish. Again they are mostly washed away. The fish does have a cured flavour so some salt does remain but it isn't overly salty. Especially when paired with sour cream, lemon juice and blinis.
Along with the blinis I served this with a shot of iced cucumber vodka. The 'recipe' for this will be up tomorrow. But I promise it is so simple that I feel embarrassed to call it a recipe. (Cucumber vodka is great in a vodka and tonic - just saying seen as it is Friday tomorrow and we know that Friday is cocktail night here in Sprinkles and Sprouts)
Now I said this was simple and I promise it is, but it does need a few days in the fridge so if you are making for company it needs prepping in advance, which is another winner in my eyes.
So have a go at curing your own salmon, it is pretty simple and tastes amazing! And it is a pretty purple colour. Well purple and orange! So dramatic and just beautiful!
Enjoy x
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📖 Recipe
Blueberry, Gin and Dill Cured Salmon
Ingredients
- 1 cup frozen blueberries
- 2 tablespoon gin/vodka
- ⅓ cup salt
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 500 g salmon (skin off)
- 1 tablespoon chopped dill
Instructions
- Remove the blueberries from the freezer for 10 minutes before you start.
- Place the blueberries and gin/vodka into a food processor and blitz until you have a thick paste.
- Mix the salt and sugar together in a bowl.
- Lay 2 layers of cling film on top of each other. Ensure they are at least three times as long as the salmon.
- Place the salmon in the middle of the cling film.
- Tip half of the salt and sugar mixture over the salmon and then add half the dill.
- Pour half of the blueberry mixture over the salmon and add the remaining dill.
- Carefully turn the salmon over and sprinkle over the remaining salt/sugar mix and blueberry puree.
- Wrap the salmon up well and give it a good squish to ensure every bit is covered with blueberry puree.
- Cut a small slit in the corner of the package.
- Place the package into a deep baking tray, lay another baking tray or plate on top and weigh this down with something heavy (a couple of tins of tomatoes works well).
- Place the baking tray into the fridge, then scrunch a piece of tin foil up into a ball. Use the tin foil ball to prop one end of the baking tray up. Ensure the side of the salmon that doesn't have the slit cut into it is elevated. This will ensure that any juices that pool into the tray are collected at the edge of your tray.
- After 24 hours check on the salmon and drain off any juices that might have pooled in the bottom of the dish. Leave it weighted for another 24 hours then drain again.
- After 48 hours, remove the salmon from the fridge and unwrap it carefully.
- Wash the salmon well and then pat it dry with kitchen paper.
- To serve use a sharp knife to cut thin slices off off the fillet.
- Serve with blini with sour cream, fresh dill and some lemon slices.
Dorothy Roberts says
Made this for a special meal with a Tassie produce theme. It was a show stopper! Thanks so much for sharing.
Mary * The Goodie Godmother says
We *looooooove* salmon, especially cured and I didn't think to do it at home, but I will. How lovely for a brunch or afternoon tea!
Claire McEwen says
It is the one fish I never have to persuade me kids to eat. They love it!
It would be perfect for a brunch; it is light and yet rich. Perfect for a girls brunch 🙂
Jennifer says
This SO makes me miss living back in Florida when we could get fresh fish right off the boat! Smoked and cured meats are some of my hubbys favorites and the color on this ? is gorgeous! Will definitely be giving this a try!
Claire McEwen says
Oh wow!!!! I bet that was amazing!
We live in the crab capital so we get the most amazing local crabs, it is so wonderful to buy such fresh seafood.
I love the purple and orange colour too. The contrast just makes me smile!
Amanda Mason says
This has to be one of the best posts I've read in awhile. I WISH I could have salmon flown in overnight from Tasmania! Oh my goodness! I love all these ideas on how you served these! Excellent post! Enjoyed it!
Claire McEwen says
Thank you so much Amanda! 😀
We are super lucky to have such a great fisho!
Amy @ Pressure Cook Recipes says
Hi Claire,
This cured salmon looks amazing with the blueberries!!
Definitely need to add this to my to-try list.
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Amy
Claire McEwen says
It adds such a beautiful colour doesn't it.
It is definitely one to try, so much easy that people think and tastes amazing 😀
Dannii @ Hungry Healthy Happy says
What a unique flavour combination, and not one that I would have thought to put on salmon. It sounds great though!
Claire McEwen says
I know what you mean Dannii. I had a salmon steak with a raspberry vinaigrette not long ago and that is where I got the idea for salmon and fruit.
Sounds odd but it works 🙂
Bintu - Recipes From A Pantry says
Curing salmon with blueberries sounds so interesting.Would love to try this, does it give it a fruity flavour?
Claire McEwen says
It gives it a subtle fruity flavour and counters the salt needed to cure the salmon.
All the flavours meld together well x
Tina Jui | The Worktop says
Hi Claire - this look and sounds amazing! I love the hint of blue on the salmon -- it is stunning. I've never tried to make my own cured salmon before, but this recipe is really inspiring me to do so right now. You're so lucky to be able to get such fresh salmon!
Claire McEwen says
Homemade cured salmon is so good and so simple. I prefer to add extra ingredients, just salt and sugar is a little salty for me.
Dorothy Dunton says
Hi Claire! Gary calls it hoarding, I call it practical! I've worked hard all my life and certain expenses are what they are but saving on groceries is quite easy. What is on sale any given week (particularly meats) is what we eat that week, plus a few more to put in the freezer! That's why I also have six pounds of jumbo shrimp that I snagged at the same time I got the salmon! 🙂
Claire McEwen says
I completely agree. I always say to Stew that we eat so well on quite a small budget (By Aussie standards) because I stock up on bargains and have a freezer full of food!
Jumbo shrimp YUM!
Dorothy Dunton says
Hi Claire! This is a beautiful dish! I can't get fresh salmon, but I can get frozen wild caught salmon sides, in fact I have two in the freezer right now as they were on sale recently! And you iced cucumber vodka sounds like the perfect partner!
Claire McEwen says
Freezers stocked with sale foods!!! Dorothy we are so alike 😉 x