Gravlax with mustard sauce

1 fresh salmon, 1–1 1/4 kg
75 ml salt
75 ml sugar
20 white peppercorns
50 g fresh dill, chopped

mustard sauce
2–3 tbsp mild mustard
1–2 tbsp sugar
1–2 tbsp white wine vinegar
100 ml oil
2–3 tbsp dill, chopped
salt and white pepper

Fillet the salmon and remove all the bones with a tweezer, but leave the skin. Dry the fish with paper towel and halve it. Mix the salt and sugar with coarsely ground pepper. Spread a little of the mixture on a plate and sprinkle with fresh dill. Place one of the salmon pieces on the plate with the skin down. Sprinkle more than half of the remaining spice mixture and dill on the fillet. Then place the other piece of salmon on top of the first, skin side up. Sprinkle with the rest of the spice mixture, and the dill, and cover with plastic wrap. Store in the fridge for 48 hours and turn the fish regularly when the liquid comes out.

mustard sauce
Mix mustard, sugar and white wine vinegar and add the oil gently, while stirring. Season with dill, salt and white pepper.

Remove the spice mixture and slice the cured salmon in thin slices. Put the mustard sauce in a bowl and serve with the cured salmon.

In the background of photo:
Matjes herring pie with vendace roe

Yield: 1 pie (12 pieces)

base
75 g butter
200 g sweetened or unsweetened rye bread or pumpernickel

filling
200–300 ml light crème fraiche
200–300 ml light cottage cheese
200–300 g matjes herring, finely chopped
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
4 tbsp chives, finely chopped
4 tbsp dill, finely chopped
salt and white pepper
4 gelatin leaves

3 finely chopped red onions for garnish
1 bunch chives
100 ml vendace roe

base
Line a springform with plastic wrap. In a food processor, mix the butter and bread to a paste. Press the bread paste into the bottom of the springform. Pack it hard against the bottom and spread with a spatula so you get the surface as even and level as possible.

filling
In a bowl, mix the crème fraiche, cottage cheese, matjes herring, red onion, chives and dill. Add salt and white pepper to taste. Soak the gelatin leaves in cold water. After a few minutes squeeze the liquid out of them, and melt them. Add the gelatin a drop at a time to the mixture in the bowl, stirring constantly so it doesn’t get lumpy. It will set quickly. Then pour the filling over the bread base in the springform. Thump the springform on the kitchen bench a few times so it flattens out and the bubbles come out. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Sprinkle pie with generous amounts of finely chopped red onion and chives. Slice pie in pieces and top with small eggs of vendace roe.