Vodka & Dill cured Salmon, Salmon & Horseradish Terrine with a Beetroot salad, Lemon & Horseradish dressing.

Well I thought that I would put one of my recipes up here. Recently I was tasked with creating a cold dish that I could serve that could also travel (so I could make it before hand) and then serve. I’ve done a variation on this before but this time I tried to work out any bits that didn’t work.
I’ll do my best on measurements for this, rather than just “slap in some of this”.

First thing’s first. Curing the salmon.

For this you will need:

Side of salmon (700g) – I’d aim for one that had some good thickness so it’s possible to cut off thin strips.
Salt flakes (handful of. In grams? No idea. Enough to get a nice coat all over the salmon)
Sugar (50g)
Fresh ground peppercorns (black)
Zest of 2 lemons
Juice of 1 lemon
250ml vodka
100ml water
Finely chopped dill (to taste – I didn’t go too wild)
Beetroot x2 (thinly sliced)

Take all your dry ingredients and slap them in a bowl all together. Chop your dill and chuck this in too along with the lemon zest. Now, take your salmon and put in the bowl, coating as evenly as you can over both sides of the fish. Get a dish that you’re planning on using to cure your fish and lay the salmon skin side down on the base of it. Add the lemon juice, the water and the vodka to the remaining rub that didn’t stick to the salmon, and then pour this over the waiting salmon. Ensure that the fish is nicely covered in the solution and then lay your thinly sliced beetroot over the flesh of the fish, almost creating scales of beetroot.
This will give you great colouring through the salmon and adds a nice flavour. Cling film the top of the dish and fridge. The curing time varies on the flavour you desire. I cured for 24hrs on mind but check it routinely (by that I mean every 6hrs not every 20mins) to make sure the fish is OK. You don’t want it to look like it’s drying out. I would have reduced my time slightly as in this situation my salmon was thinner than I would usually use.

Now, while that is under way curing you can sit back and get your feet up & get a beer. That’s one stage done.

So, you now have some beautiful cured salmon. You have rinsed the curing solution from the fish, patted dry and it’s now sitting on a board waiting further instruction.

Next? Slice it.

You want quite nice thin slices here so try and use the sharpest knife you have. I opted for my wonderful kin knife (@kinknives) but watch your fingers. Slice as much as you can get off. The fish, not your hands.

Meanwhile line 4 ramekins with Clingfilm, enough excess to come out over the top too. You can grease them if you prefer but I find the cling film is enough. Then, line your cling film lined ramekins with slices of your cured salmon. You want it so there are no gaps, so if that means doubling slightly in places that’s fine as well to make sure it’s covered. Fridge the ramekins.

So for the terrine what will we need?
700g Side of salmon. (I got a 1.5kg side and halved it, some for curing, some for this)
Bay leaves
Peppercorns
Dill
Lemon
White wine (600ml)
Crème Fraîche(250g)
Zest of 1 lemon
½ juice of 1 lemon
5tbsp horseradish (I used Tesco finest, but the strength differs so add one at a time, blend and check).
Freshly ground pepper & salt
Clarified Butter (50g)

The first step to this is to poach the salmon first and foremost. Get your salmon, cut a slice in to it and line that cavity with the bay leaves, peppercorns, some lemon slices and some dill.
I do not have a fish kettle, so back to basics with some foil for me. I make a cross with 2 lengths of foil, when they cross in the middle is where the salmon goes. Season the fish as well and start to raise up the edges of the foil to start to create a parcel.
Pour in 300ml of white wine to the parcel (makes sense to do this in an oven dish in case of spillage). Something nice and dry I like to use.

Pour the other 300ml of wine in to a glass. If you’re happy enough to drink the wine, it’s good enough to cook with. (Yea, I can make any excuse to drink wine I’ll have you know.)

Seal the parcel as well as you can. Keep it in the oven dish and set the oven to 160 degrees centigrade, which is what? Gas mark 4? Google tells me its gas mark 3.

Poaching of the fish varies with the thickness of your side of salmon. My side was roughly an inch thick, I poached it for around 12 minutes and then took this out of the oven and left it to cool still inside its foil container to keep all the moisture in.

You’ve probably finished the wine now, the fish is probably cool.
If it isn’t, repeat the wine to glass stage until the foil is cool.
Unwrap the salmon and you should have beautifully cooked fish. Separate the fish from the cavity stuffings you used earlier, making sure that there are no peppercorns left, or bones in with the salmon flesh. You should now be left with a bowl of salmon.
Add to this the Crème Fraîche, salt and ground black pepper, lemon zest and lemon juice and mix well together. Now it is time for the horseradish and as I mentioned above, be careful with your measurements on this as horseradish sauce strength varies. I did this 1 tablespoon at a time and then again mixed well. Repeat to taste. You want to still keep the flavour of the salmon with that nice punch of an after taste of horseradish. Once you’ve achieved this, melt your butter in a bowl in the microwave or equally on the cooker and skim the white impurities from the top. Slowly pour the butter in to the mix whilst stirring (or using a mixer). Again, keep in mind the consistency as the liquid in the salmon varies, you just don’t want it too wet. You want it to be a nice paste consistency.
Now, I add the butter as this is a cold dish and one that I would like to set slightly. The butter will solidify again once I put these in the fridge which helps keep the desired shape.
Is it tasting good? Good.

Construction time.

Take the ramekins out of the fridge lined with your cured salmon. Fill these lined dishes with your terrine mix to the top and fold over and of the salmon you left draping over. If you have any more cured salmon left, you can use this to line the bottoms but it’s not essential as the top you see will ultimately be the bottom and on the plate.
Use the cling film to bring up over the tops of the terrines and tap the ramekins down to make sure all the terrine has filled to the edges. Pull the cling film up over the tops and fridge. Now in the fridge I also put some weight on the tops (in fact I slack the ramekins on top of each other so the weight keeps them all solid and compact) to help.
Leave these to set overnight.

These are ready to go out now really. But what about something to serve them with?
I really like the beetroot and salmon combination and keen to showcase those flavours so a very simple beetroot salad is my serving suggestion.

Ingredients?
Cooked Beetroot (x4)
Dressing:
Light Olive oil
Horseradish sauce
White wine vinegar
Lemon juice
Salt & pepper

That’s it. It couldn’t be simpler. Slice beetroot, arrange on your plates in a pretentious way. Mix your dressing and whisk up to a milky consistency. Dress your beetroot.
Remove your salmon ramekins from the fridge, grab yourself some baby spinach from the garden to dress (optional) the plate. Turn out the salmon parcel on top of the baby spinach, top with a light garnish of lemon zest and dill, but not too much. They’re strong flavours.

Serve with a nice 6 seeded roll (see my bread recipes – coming soon) and a few glasses of Sauvignon Blanc.

Drink more wine and enjoy.