Citrus and Spice Cured Salmon for Christmas Eve

Serves 8. Prep 20 minutes, plus 24 hours curing. No cooking.

1. Mix the salt, sugar, Citrus & Spice, lemon zest, orange zest and cracked peppercorns together in a bowl.
2. Lay two long overlapping sheets of cling film in a shallow dish and sit the salmon on them, skin side down.
3. Pack the cure over the flesh in an even layer, right out to the thin edges where it is easiest to leave a gap.
4. Wrap the film tightly around the fish, sit a small plate on top and weigh it down with two tins.
5. Refrigerate for 24 hours, tipping off the liquid that pools in the dish after the first 12.
6. Unwrap the salmon and rinse every trace of cure off under cold running water.
7. Pat it completely dry with paper towel, then leave it uncovered on a rack in the fridge for an hour so the surface dries.
8. Slice as thinly as you can on a long shallow angle, starting at the tail and leaving the skin behind on the board.
9. Lay the slices over crackers, add a small spoon of crème fraîche, then scatter the dill and finish with olive oil and a squeeze of lemon.

Why this blend and not a plain salt cure

Citrus & Spice is 27 per cent roasted cumin with roasted coriander, 15 per cent lemon peel, 11 per cent lime juice powder, nigella seeds, sumac and sea salt. Two of those matter here. The lime juice powder and lemon peel put dry acidity into the cure, doing the job a splash of gin does in a Scandinavian recipe without wetting the mix. The nigella seeds stay whole and end up as dark specks on every slice, which is why this looks like something and a plain salt cure does not.

For the blend on hot food instead, our guide to using Citrus & Spice covers the chicken and vegetable side of it, and three Ottolenghi spice tins and what to put them on compares it with the others in the Ottolenghi range.

Make ahead, swaps and leftovers

Cure it on the 23rd and it is ready for the 24th. Rinsed and dried, the side keeps three days wrapped in fresh paper in the coldest part of the fridge, and it slices better cold and firm than on day one. Do not freeze it after curing: it thaws wet.

For a smokier version, swap the Citrus & Spice for Ottolenghi Sweet & Smokey and drop the orange zest. Leftovers go into scrambled eggs on Christmas morning, or onto whatever is left in the crackers and condiments drawer on the 27th.

Common questions

How long does cured salmon keep in the fridge?

Three days once rinsed and dried, wrapped in clean baking paper rather than cling film so the surface stays dry, and kept in the coldest part of the fridge. It is at its best on days one and two. If you have cured a whole side and need half of it now, leave the rest unrinsed in its cure until the day you want it, because the fish keeps better in it.

Do I need sushi grade salmon to cure it?

Sushi grade is a marketing term rather than a legal standard, so it is not something to rely on. What matters is buying from a fishmonger you trust and telling them the fish is for curing. Salting firms and seasons the flesh but it is not the same as cooking it, so for an extra margin use fish that has already been frozen, or freeze it yourself: a domestic freezer runs at about minus 18 degrees and the standard advice at that temperature is seven days. Anyone pregnant, very young, elderly or immune compromised should be given a cooked dish instead, such as whole baked salmon with a chilli jam glaze.

What do you serve with cured salmon at Christmas?

Something crisp and something sour, and not much else. Crackers or torn pita, crème fraîche, dill, lemon wedges and a bowl of capers or thinly sliced red onion if you have them. Keep the rest of the table light around it, because the fish is salty and rich in small amounts. It sits naturally beside the rest of a festive entertaining spread and needs no oven time on a day when the oven is the bottleneck.