Gravad Mackerel with Dill Cream Sauce
Ingredients
Course: Starter
Servings: 4
6 fresh mackerel fillets – filleted and skinned
25g demerara sugar
25g coarse salt (table salt will be fine)
Small handful fresh dill
Coarsely ground black pepper
Sauce
1 tub crème fraiche – 225g
Small bunch dill – finely chopped
1 rounded teaspoon demerara sugar
Method
Day 1
Lay the fillets in pairs in a shallow dish with the curing mixture between them.
Add a suitable-sized smaller dish on top and weigh it down with fine Shetland beach stones.
Leave in a cool place and check each day, turning them over and making sure that the curing mixture – which will now be very liquid – is reaching all the fish.
Day 3 (or 4)
Mix the sauce ingredients thoroughly and transfer to a small dish.
Scrape the peppercorns and dill off the fillets and pat them dry with kitchen paper.
Slice thinly at an angle and serve with the sauce on oatcakes, ryebread or a dark beremeal bannock.