Little Croustades Filled With Gravadlax And Soured Cream Food

CREAMY CUCUMBER WITH GRAVADLAX

Steps:

• Peel alternate strips of skin off the cucumber and halve lengthways. Scoop away the seeds with a teaspoon, slice the cucumber on an angle, then place in a colander or sieve set above a bowl. Remove the outer layer of fennel and quarter the bulb. Cut away the core, then slice the fennel as finely as possible. Tip the fennel in with the cucumber, season generously with salt, then leave to macerate for 10 mins.
• When the vegetables have been salted, taste a piece of cucumber. If it's too salty, give them a rinse. But if it's fine, then just squeeze them gently. In a separate bowl, stir together the cream, vinegar, mustard and dill, and season with a grind of black pepper. Toss the vegetables into the creamy dressing and serve with a few slices of gravadlax, a sprinkling of dill and some buttered brown bread.

LAXPUDDING

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160 fan/gas 4. In a large saucepan, mix together the creams and the milk, and bring to just under the boil. Add the potatoes and cook gently for 5 mins, carefully turning the potatoes over from time to time.
• Season well and spoon one-third of the potatoes into a greased deep dish. Put half the gravadlax and dill on top, then add another one-third of the potatoes, then the rest of the gravadlax and dill. Finish with a final layer of potatoes.
• Bake for 1 hr 10 mins or until the vegetables are completely tender. You may need to cover the top with foil after 1 hr to stop it becoming too dark. Serve with a green salad with a sharp dressing (the laxpudding will benefit from something clean to contrast with the richness of this dish).

GRAVADLAX

Steps:

• Pat the salmon dry with kitchen paper and run your hands over the flesh to see if there are any stray small bones - if there are, use a pair of tweezers to pull them out. Set the salmon fillets aside.
• Tip the salt, sugar, peppercorns, lemon zest, juniper and dill into a food processor and blitz until you have a bright green, wet salt mixture or 'cure'. Unravel some cling film but keep it attached to the roll. Lay the first fillet of salmon skin-side down and then pack the cure over the flesh. Drizzle with gin, if using and top with the 2nd fillet, flesh-side down. Roll the sandwiched fillets tightly in cling film to create a package.
• Place the fish in a shallow baking dish or shallow-sided tray and lay another tray on top. Weigh the tray down with a couple of tins or bottles and place in the fridge for at least 48 hrs or up to 4 days, turning the fish over every 12 hours or so. The longer you leave it, the more cured it will become.
• To make the sauce, tip all the sauce ingredients into a blender. Blitz until you have a thickened dressing.
• To serve, unwrap the fish and brush off the marinade with kitchen paper. Rinse it if you like. You can slice the fish classically into long thin slices, leaving the skin behind, or remove the skin it and slice it straight down. Serve the sliced fish on a large platter or individual plates with pumpernickel bread, dill and mustard sauce.