I think we could all use some hot weather food.
For instance: whiskey-cured salmon.
Gravlax is salmon that's cured with salt, sugar, and seasonings like dill, caraway, juniper, or the old-school pine needles; sometimes a splash of gin or vodka is added. This isn't quite gravlax. But it is very simple.
Lay down a large piece of Saran wrap and sprinkle it with salt and sugar, about twice as much salt as sugar. Lay a salmon fillet on it, skin down. Sprinkle or spray the surface of the salmon fillet with a little rye whiskey and green Chartreuse, and then sprinkle with more of the salt-sugar cure. Wrap in Saran wrap. Place in dish. Weigh down with something, like pickle jars. Flip over every 12 hours, and drain any liquid that's leaked out (there will be a fair bit). The salmon ought to be ready after about 24-36 hours, at which point you can knock off any remaining cure and slice it thinly -- I have it here with rye toast and plain cream cheese, and a little dill pollen on top (caraway seeds would have been better, with the rye in the bread and the whiskey).
It's a similar flavor combination to lox and cream cheese on a bagel, though not nearly as salty as belly lox. If they were in season, I'd add a slice of tomato.
Now, Raspberry Coke I may have posted about last year -- one of my favorite things when raspberries are in season:
Mash up a few raspberries in the bottom of a glass, with a little sugar and optional lemon or lime juice. Let sit in fridge overnight.
Add cold Coca-Cola. Simplest thing in the world.
What happens to the raspberries during the night?
ReplyDeleteThe sugar draws the juice out and breaks the berries down somewhat -- really an hour would probably be sufficient, I just tend to do it the night before.
ReplyDeleteAh, that's what I figured. But I was looking at some classic cherry bounce recipes that call for sugaring the fruit and leaving it for weeks before any alcohol is added, and thought this might be a variant.
ReplyDelete