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Although my mom and dad are both half-Danish,growing up in my family wasnot a immersive Scandinavian experience. However, I do remember my family’sannual Danish Christmas rituals. This included weaving those red and white paper hearts, rollingkransekage cookies, and preparing lefse (a potato flatbread filled with a decadent butter/sugar/cinnamon mixture).
I also remember hearing stories about my Danish great-grandmother on my mom’s side, who lived to be 107. My mom would always describe her grandma with admiration for this tenacious, independent woman whoworked tirelessly on own her farm in Denmark while raising her family. Even though my Great Grandma Elsiepassed when I was very young, I grew up with reverence for her, and a sense that she isa powerful heroine in my lineage.
Recently, I felt inspired to connect more deeply with my Scandinavian roots on a whim, I perused into the Scandinavian store that is near my home. Along with some frozen ligonberries, a pint of pickled herring, some table linens, I picked up a stunning cookbook called Kitchen of Light: The New Scandinavian Cooking by Andreas Viestad. The first recipe I tried was a Spice Crusted Salmon,from which this salmon recipe is heavily inspired.
With delight, I realized that most savory Danish dishes fit into my grain-free diet with little or no modification, especially now that I have been able to re-introduce specific types of dairy into my diet. (Only the Danish pastries will require some significant tweaking.)
Danish foodrelies heavily on seafood, especially cold-water oily fish. Other stapes include root vegetables (lots of beets!), cabbage, cultured dairy, and meats.
I look forward to my continuedadventures in grain-free Danish cooking and sharing more recipes with you along the way!
A note on sourcing spices: I encourage you to always get organic herbs/spices, since conventional options are often irradiated to prolong shelf life. I believe the irradiation can compromise the integrity of the botanicals.
5-Ingredient Salmon Rub Recipe
Author:Lauren
Serves:Makes enough rub for 2 pounds of salmon
This dynamic spice blend beautifully compliments the rich silkiness of a wild salmon fillet. Don't be intimidated if the spice combination sounds unusual to you - I promise, the flavors meld in an extraordinary way to create a savory, deep profile. The cumin is not overpowering, either. This recipe is inspired by the Spice Coated Salmon recipe in Kitchen of Light by Andreas Viesad. I've added salt to the recipe and added the step of grinding the spices after the toasting step.
Ingredients
- 2 tsp. cumin seeds
- 2 tsp. coriander seeds
- 2 tsp. dill seeds (available here)
- 2 tsp. fennel seeds
- 1 tsp. coarse sea salt or ½ tsp. finely ground salt
Special equipment
- A mortar and pestle or coffee grinder/spice grinder
Instructions
- Place the spices in a sauté pan and toast them over medium heat until fragrant, stirring frequently, about 2-3 minutes. Toasting activates and heightens the flavor of the spices.
- Place the toasted spices, along with the salt, in a mortar and pestle and work until coarsely ground. Alternatively, use a spice grinder or (clean) coffee grinder, which will create a spice rub with a fine texture.
- Generously pat onto both sides of a salmon fillet and sauté, bake or broil as desired.
- The rub is best the week it is prepared, however it keeps well in the pantry. Store the ground spice mixture in an airtight container.
Notes
Feel free to double the recipe. Store leftover ground spice rub in an airtight container.
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Reader Interactions
7 Comments
Dawn Thomsen MinengaHi, Lauren. I’ve followed you for the last couple of years, because we have many of the same health issues, and I’ve gained wisdom from you and Gutsy in your journeys. I also grew up Danish, and am heartened that Danish foods fit well with a grain-free diet. I have many old recipes from my grandmother and great-grandmother that I will have to pull out and re-explore.
Thank you. For me, food is the best connection to old family remembrances, tugging at the nostalgia of younger years. Peace.
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- sophia lalli
sure would be helpful if recipes could be printed.
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Lauren, try something like this (your readers will appreciate it):
https://wordpress.org/plugins/pdf-print/reply to this comment
- Stephanie
Hi Lauren,
What kind of salmon is this? I have tried to eat more wild sockeye salmon,
But it tastes so fishy/strong to me and am looking for ways to prepare it so
It tastes good. Thank you.reply to this comment
This sounds amazing and I happened to buy salmon this week too!
reply to this comment
Me too. Good idea.
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- Ashley
Do you think this could work with essential oils? I have all of those flavors in my essential oils but not entirely sure of the amount I would use. What do you think?
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