This beetroot cured trout is a refreshing and delicious seafood dish to serve on Christmas day. Great as an entrée or as part of the main meal. It’s something that can be prepared in advance which means less cooking on the day too! All the hard work is done a few days before, but really it’s not that hard as you just grate and crush a few ingredients! Impressive and so tasty it’s a great way to have some seafood on the day.

INGREDIENTS

Cured trout:

• 1.4 - 1.6 kg trout fillet (available from Sydney Fresh Seafood concession stores - ask for the trout to be pin boned and for the skin to be kept on) 
• 1.5 kg beetroot / approx. 5 large beetroot heads
• 3 x lemons (zest only)
• 1 tbsp x juniper berries
• 300 g of salt or 250g if you'd prefer less salty (sea salt flakes, Himalayan salt or other fine salt)
• 150 g x sugar (brown, muscavado, coconut or other unrefined sugar)

To serve with the cured trout:

• ½ bunch of dill
• ½ bunch of basil 
• ½ bunch of parsley
• 6 x fresh tarragon leaves 
• lemons (you can use the lemons from the curing mix above)
• 1 x container of crème fraiche
• 1 x red onion
• 1 x packet of crackers

METHOD

1. Prepare the curing mix by rinsing the beetroot (skin kept on) and grating them on a medium sized grater, place the grated beetroot directly into a large bowl. You will find there will be a lot of liquid coming out of the grated beetroot so just press the grated beetroot with your hands and remove the majority of the liquid from the bowl. 
2. Finely zest the lemons, crush the juniper berries in a mortar and pestle and place the lemon zest and crushed juniper into the beetroot curing mix. Add the salt and the sugar. Mix well. 
3. To wrap the curing mix around the trout what you need to do is place 2 layers of a large piece of glad wrap that overlaps the edges of a baking tray. Spread out a layer of the beetroot mix on top of the glad wrap that’s covering the surface of the tray. Place the trout onto that mixture. Cover the top of the trout with more of the beetroot curing mix. Then wrap the trout with the glad wrap that’s underneath. Place another few layers of glad wrap over the top. Fold the plastic wrap around the trout so it's wrapped around it tightly. Keep the plastic wrapped trout on the tray and place into the fridge. Some of the liquid may come out but you will have the tray to hold it in. Cure the trout in the fridge for at least 24 hours.
4. After 24 hours or however long you wish to cure the trout, remove the tray and trout from the fridge. Remove the wrapping, remove the beetroot curing mix, then pat the trout with paper towels to remove any more of the mix as well as excess liquid. 
5. Use a food processor to blend and mix up the herbs to serve with the trout. 
6. Serve the trout on a flat plate/platter by slicing it finely with a sharp knife. Remove the skin if you like prior to serving or as you go. 
7. Top the trout with the fresh herb mix and with serve crème fraiche, lemon slices or wedges, red onion and crackers.

Prep time: 1 hour.
Curing time: 24 - 48 hours.
Cook time: n/a.
Serves 6 - 10 people.

Recipe and photos by Anastasia Zolotarev. Click here to see her blog.