Instant Gravlax 即席グラブラックス

This was the first  time we got sashimi-grade salmon from Catalina.  Since it arrived on a Saturday morning, I decided to make instant gravlax (instead of regular gravlax which takes at least 2 days to make) for lunch. I served it with my cucumber-onion salad garnished with dill and horseradish Greek yogurt sauce. I cured thinly sliced pieces of the salmon rather than the whole fillet to speed up the curing.

Since the curing was short, the flavor it added to the salmon was subtle. I splashed on our favorite Spanish olive oil.

This is based on the recipe: "Super Quick Gravlax" by Jamie Oliver. The original recipe used a filet of salmon and cured it for 4 hours. I used thin slices and cured it for one hour. We had this with lightly toasted pumpernickel bread.

Ingredients:
Sashimi grade salmon (#1, This was fresh New Zealand salmon) thinly cut on the bias from the belly portion of the salmon (#2).
Sugar (1 heaping tbs) with molasses (or brown sugar) and Kosher salt (1 heaping tbs) (#3).
Vodka (50ml)
Zest of one lemon and orange (I did not have orange so used frozen Yuzu skin)
Fresh dill, finely chopped (2 tbs)

Directions:
I mixed all the curing ingredients in a sealable plastic container (#4). I mixed but did not dissolve the salt and sugar. I coated each slice of the salmon with the cure (#5) and covered it with plastic wrap (#6) and let it stand in the refrigerator for one hour.
After one hour, I took the salmon out and removed the excess salt/sugar by patting with a paper towel (#7).
I sprinkled on more fresh chopped dill (#8).

The gravlax was very nice with lemony and citrusy flavors and a hint of sweet molassy taste. It is not as flavorful as a regular gravlax but it was great in its own right. The horseradish Greek yogurt sauce (mixture of homemade Greek yogurt, prepared horseradish, olive oil and salt) was a bit too assertive for this delicate dish. I made several small, open face sandwiches with the gravlax and cucumber onion salad on the pumpernickel bread.