That's right: a journey. A journey of self-discovery. A journey of learning. A journey of patience. A journey of thrift. And at last, a destination of sweet salty tasty melt-in-your-mouth salmon.

Gravlax, much like it's cousin lox, is good on thing such as crackers, bagels & cream cheese, and plain by itself. However, unlike lox, gravlax is simply cured salmon, and can be made at home. I suppose one could make lox at home, too, if one had a smoker, and this one doesn't have a smoker.

It takes 72 hours to make gravlax. It could take longer, but I'm impatient. My first batch of gravlax cost me a total of about $4.50 for approximately 4 servings. As you may see, gravlax is much cheaper than lox, which was the main reasoning behind making it. I <3 me the lox, but can't afford the massive Costco package every 2 weeks. Plus, the Costco package? Is too big for one person to eat. So here we go.

Gravlax (center) presented with hummus (left) and ajvar (right).

After searching online for good gravlax recipes, I ended up not using any of them, but found one in my "Helen Corbitt Cooks For Company" cookbook. Seriously, if you can find one of these at a used bookstore or online, grab it. So good.

You can click on the photo of the recipe above to read it... Helen's rather verbose. As you can see, I used pre-packaged pre-frozen salmon from Costco. It's the only fresh-type salmon I can get here that's kosher, and half of the reason I wanted to make sure the gravlax would turn out alright before attempting to serve it to people. I just thawed it out in the fridge like normal before putting everything together. Now, Helen's recipe calls for 3-3.5 lbs of salmon, and I wasn't all that into making that much gravlax, so while the "picking" mixture and everything else I put together was according to the recipe, I just eyed it when adding the ingredients to the salmon - therefore I have quite a bit of the salt/sugar/pepper stuff left I have stored in a jar for the next batch.

I also put everything in a ziplock bag, as it just made things easier. Too bad Helen didn't think of that. Oh, and just as an aside, before sealing up the bag, I added a glug of vodka, as that seemed to be the thing to do - many of the gravlax recipes online use vodka to help cure the fish.

After putting everything together, I placed the salmon-sandwich in a bottom of a bowl and put another flat-bottomed bowl on top with my pie weights in it, otherwise known as dry pink beans. I used this weight system for about a day and a half until I realized I wasn't getting the compression I wanted, so I switched the pie weight bowl with just a cheeseboard that was slightly larger than the samon and placed the weights directly atop that. That worked rather well, I think.

After all was said and done and the 72 hours had passed, I pulled the salmon out, scraped the pickling junk off, and sliced it up, tasting from each side, middle, and end of the fish to check of consistency. I noticed that the fattier fish tasted the best, while the less fatty fish got more rubbery. The flavor was consistent throughout, and was really really quite good.

After I had sliced it all up, I added just a little lemon juice to the fish. While any acid sears the edges of the salmon, I like the taste of it, so I don't let it ruin the presentation (which, by the way, was all for myself). Dotted with some sriracha/"cock sauce" and eaten with some hummus and ajvar, it was a lovely little snack for someone who is as ill-prepared as I, not having crackers, bagels, or cheese in the house with which to eat it. It was awesome being able to eat something like that that was cured by me. Being the first curing/pickling I've ever done by myself, it turned out very well. The only thing I would change was how I cut it, and that had more to do with the cutting surface than the fish. Gravlax = good. Now I have to work on getting the rest of the scandanavian dishes down...

Posted at 4:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After the husband and I got back from Montana over Memorial Day weekend, I couldn't find my camera battery charger. While my battery was drained dry, I made many amazing things. However, I found the battery charger last Friday, and, with the help of Helen Corbitt, started making Gravlax. Since Gravlax is a 48-72 hour process, it should be done this evening, and once it's sliced, diced, and tasted, there will be a new entry up here.
Also, a very Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband, who is my taste-tester, dish washer, test subject, and best friend. Everybody at once: aaaaawwwwwww....

Posted at 9:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My mom made gumbo every once in a while while I was growing up, and I still think that her gumbo is better than any I've ever had at any restaurant, no matter where that restaurant may be. Mom lived in the Virgin Islands for a while before I was born, which is where she learned this recipe. She gave me the info for the base, and I just added into it some southernish greens and made a couple of changes to make it kosher. The recipe is relatively simple, but takes time. Making the roux itself takes almost 40 minutes and should not be attempted by someone who has lack of stamina, heart palpatations, or is less than 50' tall, as it must be stirred constantly.

That warning aside, this gumbo will knock your southern socks off:

What you need for the gumbo:
1 Whole chicken
3 Large onions (I used 2 humungoid onions)
1 Large bunch of celery
6 Cloves of garlic
1 Leek
1 Bunch of kale
2-3 Sausages (I use the Sinai 54 kosher Polish dogs from Costco)
12C Chicken or vegetable broth
3 Tbsp Cajun spice (see below)
Hot rice to serve the gumbo over

For the roux:
About 1 ½C plain white flour
About ¾C Oil (not olive - I used safflower - you need an oil that can withstand high heat without burning)

Cajun Spice mix:
(I grind this up with a morter & pestle, and it comes out perfectly uniform. If you want to do a larger batch, you can use a blender or food processor - can be stored in an airtight jar, etc. etc.)
1 tsp Dry mustard
1 tsp Onion powder
½ tsp Paprika
1 tsp Thyme
1 tsp Basil
½ tsp Ground cloves
1 ½ tsp cayenne Pepper
1 tsp Black Pepper
½ tsp White pepper
1 Tbsp salt

Putting it together:
If you're using a whole uncooked chicken, put it in a large pot with all of the broth. Add chopped onion, celery, and garlic. Boil the heck out of it until the meat is falling off of the bone. Let cool and remove the unedible stuff from the soup.

I personally don't like doing something like that unless I'm saving the stock, so I picked a chicken clean that I had roasted the night before. I already have a good chicken stock (which I make and then freeze in leftover glass jars whenever I roast a chicken), so I let that defrost in the sink while I was shredding the chicken.

If doing my method, chop up the onions, celery, and garlic, and throw it all into a large pot over medium heat with a splash of oil. Stir it around for about 5 minutes, then add the shredded chicken. Stir that around for another 5 minutes, then add all of the stock and up the heat to high.

While waiting for the soup to come to a boil, thuroughly clean the kale and the leek. Both are somewhat sandy, so rest them in a bowl filled with water and gently massage the vegetables at the top of the water. Once they're ready to give you a good tip, lift them out of the water and shake away the extra moisture. Kale stems are very fibrous, so when chopping up the kale, make sure to discard the bottom 2-3" of the leaf. The rest is perfectly edible. Slice the leek into rounds - they'll come apart in the gumbo into little circles.

Once the soup is boiling, add the leek and the kale. Cover and lower the heat to medium. At this point, you can slice up the sausage (if you're using it), but it doesn't need to be added for another half hour or so. Let the soup simmer, stirring occaisionally for a half-hour, then get started on the roux:

Roux:
This is a base recipe for roux and can be used in any recipe. You'll need a large sautee pan to start off with. Pour in enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan, and put on the stove on medium-low (you may need to adjust for your stove, as my burner ≠ your burner ≠ anyone else's burner. Wait for the oil to heat up for about 5 minutes, then start adding in the flour, a handful at a time. During this entire process, you must stir constantly and consistently. Between each flour add, stir until it is well-incorparated. You want the consistency to be a bit thinner than Elmer's school glue. Once that consistency is reached, do not add any more flour. All of the flour adding should be done within the first 10 minutes of cooking, as it is important that the roux have consistency in flavor.

This process, as said before, can take anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes. Make sure that when stirring, you are scraping the entire bottom of the pan. The color you are looking to achieve is a light cocoa brown. Don't let the roux thicken too much and become dry, and don't let it burn (that's why the stirring is important). Here's what mine looked like from beginning to end (photos taken approx 10 minutes apart):

When the correct color is achieved, take the pan off of the heat, but continue stirring for another 3-5 minutes, or until the roux has cooled.

Once that's done, you're on the home stretch!! Let the roux cool for another 5 minutes, then stir it all into the soupy stuff. Turn the gumbo up to high again and wait for a boil. Boil for 5 minutes, remove from heat, and serve!

Before adding the roux

After adding the roux

You can serve the gumbo over rice or just as a stew... it freezes and refridgerates well. For an extra kick of spicyness, drizzle some hot pepper oil or some sriracha on top. Try to not burn your face off, though, unless you're like me, and can bloody take it. Enjoy!

Posted at 6:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)