Jamie and Jimmy's Friday Night Feast
By Jamie Oliver
Festive salmon gravadlax
Warm rye bread scones, horseradish cream
1 hr plus curing
Not Too Tricky
serves 24
About the recipe
This is the perfect Christmas starter or buffet centre-piece when you want to do something incredible. Beautiful beetroot-cured salmon with creamy horseradish and lemon. Served with the rye bread scones, it will blow people’s minds.
Recipe From
Ingredients
300g raw beetroot
50g fresh horseradish
1 lemon
400g rock salt
200g demerara sugar
75ml vodka
1.4kg side of salmon, skin on, scaled and pin-boned (from a sustainable source)
1 bunch of fresh dill (30g)
fresh cress, to serve (optional)
lemon wedges, for squeezing over (optional)
RYE BREAD SCONES
500g natural yoghurt
250g stoneground rye flour
250g self-raising flour, plus extra for dusting
1 teaspoon runny honey
2 large free-range egg
1 heaped teaspoon bicarbonate soda
olive oil
3 tablespoons organic jumbo oats
HORSERADISH CREAM
200g crème fraîche
75g fresh horseradish
1 lemon
Top Tip
It’s easy to make a Christmas-infused vodka. Add the peel of 1 clementine and 1 lime, 1 sprig of rosemary, 1 cinnamon stick, 2 fresh bay leaves, a few pink peppercorns and a sliced fresh red chilli to a bowl and pour in 700ml vodka. Cover and leave in the fridge for 3 days to infuse. Pour into bottles and enjoy.
Method
- Up to two weeks ahead of the big day, or at least 48 hours before you want to serve, scrub the beets and horseradish, then coarsely grate them into a bowl. Finely grate in the lemon zest, then add the salt, sugar and vodka. Mix together well.
- Place the salmon in a large tray and cover with the beetroot cure, patting everything down to ensure all of the flesh is in contact with it, then cover tightly with cling film. Place a weight on top to help pack everything down, then chill in the fridge for 36 hours, or until the salmon is cured and firm to the touch.
- Carefully unwrap the fish and remove it from the curing mixture. Run it under a tap to wash away any excess, draining all the juices, then pat dry with kitchen paper.
- Pick and finely chop the dill, then scatter it over the salmon flesh. Tightly wrap in cling film once again, then weigh it down and pop it back in the fridge.
- To make the scones, preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/gas 5. Tip the yoghurt into a large mixing bowl.
- Use the empty yoghurt pot to measure out one pot each of rye flour and self-raising flour and add it to the yoghurt, along with the honey, 1 egg, bicarbonate of soda and a large pinch of sea salt. Stir with a fork until everything just comes together, then get in there with your hands and shape the dough into a ball. Dust a clean surface with flour and flatten the dough into a large disc, roughly 2.5cm thick.
- Grease a couple of large baking trays with oil. Stamp out 24 rounds with a 5cm crinkle cutter, dipping the cutter in flour if the dough starts to stick, and place them on the trays. Beat the remaining egg and use it to eggwash the scones, then sprinkle over the oats. Bake in the centre of the oven for 20–25 minutes, until puffed up and golden.
- Meanwhile, make the horseradish cream. Put the crème fraîche in a bowl and finely grate in the horseradish and lemon zest. Mix well and season to taste, squeezing in a little lemon juice if you like.
- To serve, use a long sharp knife to slice the salmon thinly at an angle, then dish it up with the warm scones and horseradish cream. Delicious with good quality butter, a little bunch of fresh cress, lemon wedges and a shot of Christmas-infused vodka (see tip below).
Tags
