Bagt Laks med Dildsauce og Nye Kartofler

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Baking dish, approximately 30cm, just large enough to hold the fillet snugly
• •Large pot for the potatoes
• •Small saucepan for the sauce
• •Fine sieve
• •Whisk

Instructions

1. 1

   Start the potatoes

   Put the nye kartofler in a large pot and cover with cold water. Add a generous pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, then lower to a steady simmer and cook for fifteen to twenty minutes, depending on their size. They're done when a small knife slides in and out without resistance. Don't rush them and don't overcook them. Nye kartofler should hold their shape but give way completely in the mouth. Drain and set aside with a lid on to keep warm.

   Start potatoes in cold water, not boiling. Cold water lets the heat penetrate evenly from the outside in. Boiling water cooks the surface before the centre catches up, and you end up with potatoes that are soft outside and hard in the middle.
2. 2

   Prepare the salmon

   Heat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan). Take the salmon out of the fridge fifteen minutes before it goes in the oven. Cold fish bakes unevenly because the outside overcooks while the centre is still catching up. Pat the fillet completely dry with kitchen paper. Season the flesh side with fine sea salt and white pepper. Lay it skin-side down in a baking dish just large enough to hold it. Squeeze half the lemon over the top. Dot the surface with the cold butter pieces and pour the wine around the fish, not over it. The wine creates a gentle steam in the oven that keeps the flesh moist. The butter melts slowly over the surface and bastes as it goes.

3. 3

   Bake the salmon

   Slide the dish into the middle of the oven and bake for twenty to twenty-five minutes. The timing depends on the thickness of your fillet. What you're looking for is flesh that has just turned from translucent to opaque and flakes when you press the thickest part gently with a fork. It should still feel soft and yielding, not firm. If it feels firm, it's already overdone. Pull it five minutes before you think it's ready. The residual heat will carry it the rest of the way while you make the sauce.

   Press the thickest part of the fillet gently with your finger. When it gives easily and the flesh is just starting to flake at the surface, take it out. You'll know when it's right. The salmon will continue cooking for several minutes off the heat.
4. 4

   Build the dildsauce

   Transfer the salmon carefully to a warm serving platter and cover loosely with foil. Pour the pan juices through a fine sieve into a jug. You'll use these in the sauce. Melt the butter for the sauce in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and stir constantly for one minute. The flour needs to cook out its raw, pasty taste, but don't let it take on any colour. You want a white sauce, not a brown one. Pour in the strained pan juices, then the milk and cream in a steady stream, whisking as you go to prevent lumps. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for three to four minutes, stirring often, until the sauce coats the back of a spoon and feels silky on your tongue rather than thin.

   If the sauce goes lumpy, don't worry. Take it off the heat and whisk hard for thirty seconds. Most lumps will break down. If they resist, pass the sauce through a fine sieve and carry on. Nobody will know.
5. 5

   Finish with dill

   Take the saucepan off the heat. Stir in the chopped dill, the lemon juice, and a small pinch of sugar. The dill goes in off the heat because boiling it turns it grey and flat, and the fresh green flavour is the whole point of dildsauce. The lemon juice brightens everything. The sugar rounds out any sharpness from the wine in the pan juices. Taste it. Adjust the salt and pepper. The sauce should be smooth, creamy, and visibly green with dill.

6. 6

   Dress the potatoes

   Return the drained nye kartofler to their warm pot. Add the butter and let it melt over the residual heat, turning the potatoes gently so each one picks up a glossy coat. Scatter a handful of chopped dill over the top and finish with a pinch of flaky sea salt. Don't peel them. The skins of nye kartofler are so thin they're barely there, and they hold the potato together and give it a gentle bite that peeled potatoes lose.

7. 7

   Bring it to the table

   Spoon some of the dildsauce over the salmon on its platter and pour the rest into a warm jug for people to help themselves. Set the potatoes alongside in their pot or in a warm serving bowl. Lay a few fresh dill fronds over the salmon and cut the remaining lemon half into wedges. This is a dish that looks best served simply, brought straight from the kitchen to the table the way it would arrive at any Danish home on a late spring evening. The salmon breaks into portions easily with a spoon. Let people serve themselves, take what they want, pour their own sauce. This is how we greet each other. Tak for mad.

Chef Tips

• •Buy the salmon from a fishmonger you trust, and ask them to pin-bone the fillet for you. Run your fingers along the flesh side to check. If any bones remain, pull them out with tweezers at an angle. Nobody wants to find a bone in their dildsauce.
• •Fresh dill is the only option here. Dried dill tastes like dust and will not give the sauce its colour or its life. If you can't find fresh dill, wait until you can. The season decides.
• •The sauce is a classic Danish hvid sovs, a white sauce, enriched with the salmon's own pan juices. It should pour like double cream, not sit like custard. If it thickens too much as it stands, stir in a splash of warm milk to bring it back.
• •A glass of dry white wine alongside is the right pairing, the same wine you used in the baking dish. Nothing complicated. A cool Chablis or a crisp Muscadet. Let the fish and the dill lead.

Advance Preparation

• •The potatoes can be boiled up to two hours ahead and reheated gently in butter just before serving. They won't be quite the same as freshly boiled, but they'll be good.
• •Chop the dill in advance and keep it wrapped in damp kitchen paper in the fridge, but stir it into the sauce only at the last moment. The colour fades quickly once it hits the heat.
• •Take the salmon out of the fridge fifteen minutes before baking. This is not optional. Cold fish bakes unevenly, and no amount of technique fixes that.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 400g)