Heads above the parapet.I first encountered gravlax in Sweden in the seventies, when as far I know it was not found in England. Literally "buried fish" or "buried salmon", the dish used to be made by burying the fish, dressed in a mixture of salt, sugar, pepper and dill, in the cold ground. Nowadays the filleted fish is cured or pickled by strewing the fillets, skin-side down, with the traditional ingredients, making a sandwich of them, wrapping it in foil and placing the parcel in the fridge under weights, which draw the liquid from the flesh. After three days you slice it like smoked salmon, but it is more delicate and in my view more delicious. It is often served with a light mustard sauce. Dill is often hard to find in this country so this year I have grown it in large quantities. Hence a supper of gravlax tonight.
Inside the young broad bean pods the beans nestle like emeralds in a bed of white velvet.
3 comments:
Oh, to be a broad bean seen through your eyes! Beautifully, poetically described broad beans – nascent nourishment and creative inspiration all in one downy package.
Ahh, you have aroused both my taste buds and memories of my mother making gravlax.
"Emeralds in a bed of white velvet" - lovely as a painting.
Oops, sorry, I don't know what happened there - 'm' is Marja-Leena.
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