Express Gravlax & Dill Skyr

📝 Ingredients

• 400 g skinless salmon fillet (2 fillets of about 200 g each)
• 40 g coarse salt + 40 g caster sugar
• 1 tsp crushed black pepper
• 25 g fresh dill (15 g for the cure, 10 g for the cream)
• 1 lemon (the zest for the cure, 1 tbsp juice for the cream)
• 300 g plain 0 % skyr
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard + 1 tsp honey
• ½ cucumber (about 150 g)
• 8 slices wholemeal bread (about 30 g each)

🍴 Utensils

• Bowl
• Glass dish
• Cling film
• Tweezers
• Long, sharp knife
• Toaster

📖 Steps

1. Choose salmon sold as 'sashimi grade' or freeze it 7 days ahead, then thaw it overnight in the fridge: this is essential to rule out any risk of parasites in fish eaten raw. The evening before, pat the fillets dry with kitchen paper.
2. Run your finger over the flesh to find any bones and remove them with clean tweezers. Roughly chop 15 g of dill, stalks and all. In a bowl, mix the coarse salt, sugar, crushed pepper, chopped dill and finely grated lemon zest.
3. Spread half the mixture over the base of a glass dish just big enough for the fillets, lay the salmon on top and cover with the rest, pressing so it sticks on all sides. Cover with cling film pressed onto the surface, place a small plate weighed down with a tin on top and refrigerate for 12 h (up to 24 h).
4. In the morning, the salmon will have released liquid: that's normal. Take it out, scrape off the mixture, rinse it quickly under cold water and dry it very carefully with kitchen paper. The flesh should be firm, glossy and slightly translucent.
5. Make the cream: finely chop the rest of the dill. Cut the half cucumber in half, scoop out the seeds with a teaspoon and cut it into tiny dice. Mix the skyr, mustard, honey, 1 tbsp of lemon juice, the dill and the cucumber.
6. Slice the salmon on the diagonal with a long, very sharp knife into thin 3 to 4 mm slices. Glide the blade in one long back-and-forth stroke rather than sawing: the slices stay neat.
7. Lightly toast the slices of wholemeal bread for 2 min in the toaster. Spread them generously with the skyr cream, arrange the salmon slices on top and serve straight away, with the rest of the cream on the side.