Salt-cured carrot, with juniper and fresh dill served with an orange-zest oat crème fraiche and fresh fennel slaw.
Ingredients
for the carrot gravadlax
- 3 slim and straight medium carrots
- 500g table salt (can be reused after baking)
- 1 tbsp nori flakes
- 4 tbsp rapeseed oil
- 7 tsp cider vinegar
- 2 tbsp caster sugar
- 2 tbsp liquid smoke
- 1 tbsp dill, stalks only finelychopped
- 2 tsp nori flakes
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 10 juniper berries crushed
- 5 black peppercorns crushed
- ¼ tsp fennel seeds crushed
for the oat creme fraiche
- 150ml oat crème fraîche
- 1 large orange zest only
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
- ½ tsp salt
for the fennel slaw
- 1 fennel bulb washed and finely sliced, fronds removed
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- Salt and ground white pepper to taste
to serve
- Fresh dill fronds
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6.
- Wash and scrub the carrots with a stiff vegetable brush or scourer to remove any rough skin. Place in an ovenproof dish that is just large enough to fit the whole carrots in.
- Mix the salt with 1 tbsp of nori flakes and use to cover the carrots. It is important to only use granulated table salt, not coarse salt, in this stage in order to cure the carrot properly in step 4.
- Bake the carrots for 1½ hours. Then set aside to cool.
- When cool enough to handle, remove from the salt bake, rubbing off any excess salt.
- Using a vegetable peeler or mandolin, slice the carrots lengthways into thin ribbons. These should be around 1-1.5mm thick.
- Place all the other ingredients for the carrots into a bowl and mix thoroughly. Add the carrot ribbons and toss until well covered. Set aside to marinate overnight in the fridge.
- To make the crème fraîche: Mix all the ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside in a refrigerator until needed.
- To make the slaw: Make sure the fennel is thoroughly dried and place in a small bowl. Toss with the lemon juice and season with salt and white pepper to taste. Set aside until needed. The flavours will develop if dressed at least 30 minutes before serving.
- Arrange the carrot ribbons into curls and dress each plate with a spoon of fennel slaw and the crème fraîche served on the side in a bowl. Garnish with some dill fronds.
