Classics on the table

Many classic Swedish dishes spring from a desire, or need, to make use of fresh ingredients available in forests, lakes and rivers. We blend traditional food with experimental, the homegrown with the foreign – star chefs and hobby gastronomes alike. Here, we’ve selected three recipes for you to try at home. Enjoy your meal!

Gravlax

Gravlax, or dill-cured salmon, is always featured on the Swedish smorgasbord, but to experience its fine flavour to the full, enjoy a few thin slices of gravlax unaccompanied by other dishes. It is perfect as a starter as well. This dill-fragrant, sugar- and salt-marinated fish should preferably be served with a mustard sauce.

Ingredients (6 servings)

Cured salmon: 750 g fresh salmon fillet with skin on 85 g sugar 120 g salt 8 tbsp chopped dill 1 tsp crushed white pepper

Preparation

Sauce: 2 tbsp mild Swedish mustard 1 tsp Dijon mustard 2 tbsp sugar 1.5 tbsp red wine vinegar salt and white pepper 200 ml oil (not olive oil) chopped dill

First, please note that gravlax is no fast food. The process takes up to two days, plus time to freeze the salmon before preparing it, to minimise the risk connected with eating raw fish.

When defrosted, scale the salmon and remove the small bones, but leave the skin on. Make a few cuts in the skin so the marinade will penetrate from below. Mix salt, sugar and pepper and sprinkle it beneath and on top of the salmon fillet along with plenty of dill. Place a weighted cutting board on top of the salmon fillet and let it marinate at room temperature for 2–4 hours. Then refrigerate for 24–48 hours, turning the salmon fillet a few times. Rinse the salmon in cold water. Cut into thin slices without getting too close to the skin, to avoid the dark meat of the salmon.

For the sauce, mix the mustard, sugar and vinegar and season with salt and freshly ground pepper. Stir vigorously, while pouring on the oil in a steady, thin stream. When the sauce has attained a mayonnaise-like consistency, stir in the chopped dill.

Conversions and abbreviations *

1 g = 1 gramme

100 g = 3.5 oz

1 kg = 2.2 pounds (lb)

1 dl = 2/5 cup

1 litre = 0.9 quart (qt)

1 tsp = 1/6 fl oz = 5 ml

1 tbsp = 3 tsp = 1/2 fl oz

°C = degrees Celsius

0°C = 32°F (Fahrenheit)

220°C = 428°F

*Imperial units

Potatoes are a staple food in Sweden. And they work amazingly well with gravlax.