All this hot weather definitely calls for a picnic basket & homemade goodies in the park.
Last week Sam and I put together a rather snazzy picnic with all sorts of treats. One particular piece was....
Homemade soda bread topped with sour cream, vodka beetroot & orange-zest cured salmon, and pickled cucumber.
The soda bread recipe:
Preheat your oven to 200C.
Mix 250g plain flour, 250g wholemeal flour, 125g of porridge oats, 15g bicarbonate of soda and a pinch of salt in a bowl.
Make a well in the middle and pour in 500ml of buttermilk, 1 tbsp of clear honey and 1 tbsp black treacle.
Mix all the ingredients together with a wooden spoon.
Turn the mixture out onto a well floured baking sheet and with floured hands pat gently into a round shape and cut a cross in the top.
Bake for 45 minutes (turn it down to 180C half way if it’s looking too dark).
Check there is a hollow sound when tapped (if not carry on baking for 5 minute intervals).
Take out your bread and cover with a damp tea towel until cold.
Now onto the salmon:
We used half a side of salmon but you can use whatever size you want -mix 2 tbsps of caster sugar and 2 tbsps of salt (depending on size of salmon fillet you may want to add more/less) and then cover the fish with it.
Grate 1 raw beetroot over it and top with a finely-chopped bunch of dill and zest from 1 orange.
Top the salmon with a 3 spoonfuls of vodka and cover with cling film.
Weigh it down and put in the fridge.
Turn after 24 hours and let it sit for a further 24 hours.
Slice into thin pieces and it is ready to go!
Pickled cucumber:
Thinly slice 1 cucumber to a thickness of about 2mm.
Toss the cucumber and 1 tsp of salt in a bowl and leave to sit for 30 minutes.
Warm 200ml of white wine vinegar and 200ml of water slightly and dissolve 50g of caster sugar, leaving to cool once dissolved.
Drain the cucumbers and transfer to a clip-top jar (or something similar) with the sugar vinegar solution. Seal the jar and leave to sit in the fridge preferably overnight.
Take a piece of soda bread and spread a thin layer of sour cream, lay a piece of salmon on top and finish with some pickled cucumber. This went down very well and I would say is a favourite we will be doing much more of in the future! Yum!
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