I recently tried this recipe curtesy of Chef Jacques Pepin for a Molasses Cured salmon. It takes roughly about 2 days, but it's so worth it. Great to take as a fancy hors d'oeuvre for a party with friends, or keep the deliciousness for yourself for salads or lox bagels (I highly suggest trying lox bagels with blueberry bagels, the salty pairs really well with the sweetness of the blueberry- aaaand it's full of antioxidant goodness).
1 center cut salmon filet about 1lb to 1.5 lbs skin removed (I bought mine with skin and removed the skin myself)
1/4 cup koser salt (table salt is ok, I didn't have koser salt on hand so yes, I used iodine salt, it's good but if I had koser, I would have used it)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon paprika (I used smoked paprika- mmm!)
1/4 teaspoon grated or ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I used chipotle pepper, just as good and gives it the extra smokiness I wanted)
1/4 cup molasses
2 tablespoons soy sauce
Salad:
Fennel bulb
Arugula lettuce (my favorite salad lettuce ever!)
Red onion
Capers
Olive oil
Sesame oil (so good with anything)
Apple cider vinegar
Freshly cracked black pepper
Place the salmon in the middle of a large piece of plastic wrap (don't use aluminum foil, you could also use parchment paper layered by aluminum foil). Mix the salt, sugar, cumin, allspice, paprika, nutmeg, and cayenne pepper together in a bowl. Spread the mixture evenly on both sides of the salmon.
Next, mix the molasses and soy sauce in a bowl and pour half of the mixture over the top of the salmon then flip and use the rest on the other side. Wrap it up nice and tight, it may take more wrap, for me, plastic wrap hates me so I used a lot. Place on a plate or tray and refrigerate for 24 hours.
After 24 hrs, take the salmon out the wrap, pat dry with papertowels, and place on a metal rack over a tray so it can get air all over. Keep in the fridge for another 24 hours.
Voila! When serving, you want to slice diagonally in thin slices. If you didn't want to serve it with salad or bagels and cream cheese, you can always find a nice artisan bread, the recipe suggest black bread but I'm sure it would be delicious with a fresh baguette.
The salad is self explanatory. The fennel, I used some thin slices of the bulb, and sprigs from the top. Once the arugula, fennel bulb, and some chopped red onion is in the bowl, I placed thinly sliced salmon on top. Garnish with some sprigs of fennel top, capers and cracked pepper. Add a splash of olive oil, sesame oil and apple cider vinegar. C'est parfait!
I don't have any pictures of the finished salad because Aaron and I dimolished it as soon as everything was in the bowl. I'll probably post a photo of our lox bagels we'll make later. Yum!!!
