Denise says:
This salad makes a little luxury ingredient go a long way as you mix the delicious cured salmon with some nutty green lentils. It is ideal as a tasty starter or used as part of a buffet dish for Shabbat or Yom Tov.
Gravadlax originated as a way of food preservation during the time of the Middle Ages when the fishermen salted the salmon and lightly fermented it by burying it in the sand above the high-tide line. The gravadlax comes from the Scandinavian word ‘grav’ which literally means ‘grave’ or ‘ hole in the ground and ‘lax’ which means salmon, thus gravadlax means ‘salmon dug into the ground’. Today the salmon is ‘buried’ in a dry marinade of salt, sugar and dill for a few days. As the salmon cures by the action of osmosis, the moisture turns the dry cure into a highly concentrated brine.
Preparation Time: 10 minutes Cooking Time: 40 minutes
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
200g Puy green lentils1 red onion – peeled and finely chopped
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
6 cherry tomatoes – cut in half
1 beetroot bulb – ready cooked not in vinegar -sliced
2 tablespoons fresh flat leaf parsley finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh dill – finely chopped
2 tablespoons mustard and dill sauce or substitute 1 teaspoon mustard and 2 tablespoons mayonnaise.
300g cured gravad lax
50g watercress
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Garnish: 1 lemon – cut into wedges
Method
1) Put the lentils and onion in a pan with 750ml water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 25 minutes or until tender but not mushy.2) In a bowl, mix the vinegar, mustard sauce and olive oil and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Drain the lentils and onion. Rinse in cold water and drain again.
3) Add to the vinegar dressing and lightly toss. Add the tomato, herbs and beetroot.
4) Arrange the salmon slices on each plate and top with the lentil mxiture and watercress.
To serve the stylish way: Dust the plate with a sprinkling of black pepper and garnish with lemon wedges.