Pickled Salmon

This weekend we had some guests for dinner.  David prepared the main course of roasted chicken with roasted potatoes, onions and carrots.  That left me to have fun with the sides:  pickled salmon for an hors d'oeuvre, parsley salad to accompany the main course, and meringues topped with strawberries for dessert.  Here's the first of my three recipes.

pickled Salmon

Adapted from Joan Nathan, The Jewish Holiday Kitchen

serves 6

This is like pickled herring, but with salmon, which makes it into an elegant (if messy) hors d'oeuvre.  Serve on plates and have napkins handy.  Note that the fish needs to marinate for 3-4 days before serving, and the marinade needs to cool before putting it over the fish, so you'll need to plan ahead. Otherwise, the recipe couldn't be simpler.

1 cup white vinegar

3/4 cup water

3  T. sugar

1 T. kosher salt

1 pound salmon fillet, skin and bones removed (see below about removing the skin)

1 t. mixed pickling spices

3 bay leaves

1 white or yellow onion, sliced about 1/4" thick, rings separated

When serving:  matzah, crackers, or rye bread, butter, sliced cucumbers

1.     Bring the vinegar, water, sugar, and salt to a boil.  Let this mixture cool completely.

2.     Cut the salmon into small pieces (about 1" x 1").

3.     In a non-metallic container (can be ceramic, glass, or plastic), put down a layer of salmon pieces, then a sprinkling of pickling spices and bay leaves, and a layer of onions.  Repeat with another layer.  (If you're doubling the recipe, just continue with layers until you've used all the ingredients.)  Pour the cooled marinade over the fish.  Cover the container and refrigerate for 3-4 days.

4.     Serve the salmon with the onions on matzah, crackers, or rye bread.  You might want to butter the crackers, and a sliced cucumber on the bottom is also nice.  The original recipe recommended a sour cream dressing on top, but I like it without, and it's already pretty messy to eat this!

Removing the skin from the salmon: I used to struggle with taking the skin off the salmon, but then thought to search on YouTube.  Voilà--It turns out to be quite easy!  Here are a couple of videos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhbHnXcyNSI (this includes instructions on removing the pin bones)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h38TqmAhwMg