With Mothers Day around the corner, its time to start planning the spoiling of all the mothers in the Bay, after all statistics show that most of the cooking in the home is still done by the lady of the house. So show your gratitude and put in a little effort with something truly special.

Gravadlax is one of those dishes that looks really clever but is in fact incredible easy to do. Different cultures have all sorts of ways of preserving fish and this is the Scandinavian way, a pleasant change from the old smoker!

Most of the time we think that dry and wet curing of meats and fish is too hard to do for the home kitchen and tend to go and buy some over processed version, this is such a shame as a quick chat with our grandmothers will show that not so many years ago most Kiwi homes cured and preserved for the winter.

Now I know that trying to persuade you to home cure meats that take anything up to a year is probably a bit of a stretch, but this salmon only takes four to five days so the pay back is quite quick, and lets be honest what shows your appreciation better than a meal that takes that long to prepare.

Gravadlax

There are as many recipes for this as there are spellings for it throughout Scandinavia – this one happens to be from a Danish friend. It is a fantastic alternative to smoked salmon with a fresh and subtle flavour.

Serves 10

1 whole side fresh salmon

2 heaped tablespoons sea salt

2 rounded tablespoons granulated sugar

2 teaspoons crushed black pepper

2 tablespoons spirit alcohol ( I use vodka, but be creative)

2 rounded tablespoons fresh dill

1. Mix together salt, sugar, pepper, alcohol and dill.
2. Spread the mixture over the salmon.
3. wrap with gladwrap and then tin foil.
4. Weigh down with a couple of tins and refrigerate, turning daily, for up to 5 days. You’ll notice a liquid seep out of the fish, don’t worry that is just the water coming out and can be discarded each day.
5. Serve as a canapé, starter or for the truly enlightened with scrambled eggs on Mothering Sunday.

Wine match

For me the perfect match is a really dry, ice cold Sauvignon Blanc. Try the one from Bird wines, the Birdman won’t let you down.

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