The pure, slinky flavour of wild salmon is one of the most exciting in the food world, but its deliciousness is matched, equally, by its versatility. A salmon tartare, with capers and mustard and cornichons is delectable and shows how fine the fish is when eaten raw, and salmon fillets pair well with mayonnaise, with pesto, and of course hollandaise.
Salmon can be cooked on the barbecue, baked in the oven, wrapped in foil or parchment, or steamed. It can be eaten hot, but if poached in a fish kettle it is sublime eaten cold, one of the masterpieces of the buffet table. Salmon fishcakes are mega.
Its full taste means that it is often seen at its best when offset by a powerfully flavoured sauce, such as in this opening recipe, from the chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. He wraps his salmon in effete little cabbage bundles for this vinaigrette, but, unless you are a chef, life is too short to concoct little parcels of cabbage and salmon. So, simply cook and butter some cabbage, sear the salmon in a pan, and serve the juniper vinaigrette drizzled over the top.
Vongerichten's Juniper Vinaigrette
1 tablespoon juniper berries
1 shallot, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1 tablespoon gin
2 tablespoons corn oil
2 tablespoons walnut oil
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 1/2 teaspoons boiling water
1 bunch chives, chopped
Combine all the ingredients except the boiling water and chives in a food processor or blender. Process for 30 seconds. With the motor running, add the water and process for one minute longer. Stir in the chives. Store, tightly covered, in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Hopkinson's Salmon Ceviche
The smooth texture of salmon makes it a natural for ceviche, in which citrus juices "cook" the fish. This is one of the best ceviches I know, from Simon Hopkinson's book, Roast Chicken and Other Stories. The key here is that the salmon should be sliced into thin slices or quite small pieces, and you should eat it an hour after making it. Any longer and it goes over the edge, and becomes rather flabby and uninteresting. Hopkinson serves the ceviche with guacamole, sour cream and corn chips, a great party mixture.
450g (1lb) fillet of salmon, skinned and boned 4 ripe tomatoes, skinned, deseeded and finely chopped green chillies, de-seeded and chopped, to taste (I would use between 4 and 6 small hot chillies, which will produce quite a fiery ceviche)
juice of 2 limes
1 small red onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 bunch of coriander, leaves only salt
Cut the salmon into chunky slivers and mix with the tomatoes, chillies, lime juice and onion. Chop the coriander leaves coarsely and add to the mixture, and season. Leave to marinate for about one hour but no more; any longer than this and the fish will be too "cooked".
Gravlax
Of course, the classic cured salmon dish is gravlax, and here is the version we always prepare, from Alan Davidson's book North Atlantic Seafood. Many versions of this have appeared, but this remains the classic with the classic dill sauce - which, incidentally should never be served with smoked salmon, a modern restaurant practice which should be outlawed immediately.
1 1/4 kg (3 lbs) fresh salmon, middle cut a large bunch of fresh dill 4 tablespoons sea salt 1 1/2 tablespoons caster sugar 2 tablespoons crushed white peppercorns
Have a piece of salmon cleaned, scaled, bisected lengthways and deboned. Choose a glass or enamel casserole dish of the right size and place one of your two pieces of salmon, skin side down, in the bottom of it. Add the dill, chopped if necessary. Combine the remaining ingredients and sprinkle them over the dill.
Then cap the preparation with the other piece of salmon, this time skin side up, followed by a plate or round wooden board larger than the area of salmon. Weight this down, and put the whole lot in the refrigerator for 36 to 72 hours. The fish is to be turned over, complete, every 12 hours or so, and basted (inside surfaces too) with the juices.
To serve, scrape off the dill and the salt mixture, pat the fish dry and slice it as you would smoked salmon. It is accompanied by Gravlaxsas a mustard sauce which is made as follows:
Gravlaxsas
4 tablespoons mild ready-made mustard (e.g. Dijon)
1 teaspoon mustard powder
1 tablespoon castor sugar
2 tablespoons white vinegar
6 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 or 4 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
Mix together the mustards, sugar and vinegar. Take a wire whisk and beat in, little by little, the vegetable oil until you have a sauce the consistency of mayonnaise. Into this stir the chopped dill. This sauce can be prepared in advance and refrigerated, but should be re-whisked before being served.
Belinda Hill's Cold Poached Salmon
A whole, poached salmon, served cold, is one of the most enjoyable, summery things you can eat, and here is one of the best - and simplest - recipes for it which I know. This classic lunch party recipe comes from a friend, Belinda Hill, who lives in Co Down.
1 whole salmon handful salt about 12 black peppercorns a few leaves of lemon balm handful of parsley 5 fl oz white wine; or a lemon, half of its juice squeezed out into the water and two quarters in with the fish.
Put the fish in a poacher, cover with water and add the remaining ingredients.
Bring the mixture gently to a good simmer, then count to 30 - or 40 if you have an especially large salmon. (Note, it's helpful to count in thousands, i.e. "one thousand, two thousand" and so on). Slam the lid on tightly, remove from the heat, and leave to cool overnight in the cooking water. Next day, remove the salmon from the liquid, remove the skin and garnish. Belinda serves it with a home-made lemon mayonnaise.