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Weeknight Kitchen: Grilled Salmon with Horseradish and Pickled Beet Sauce (Lachs)

Serves 4
 
The combination of pickled beets and horseradish is common in eastern Europe, and its popularity has been co-opted by German cooks, who have long used both elements in the kitchen. If possible, use homemade pickled beets to create the robustly flavored topping for this simple salmon dinner.
 
· 1 cup/155 g sliced pickled beets, homemade (recipe follows) or store-bought, roughly chopped
· 3 tbsp freshly grated horseradish or prepared horseradish
· 2 tbsp finely chopped fresh curly-leaf parsley
· Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
· Canola oil for the grill rack
· 1 tsp coriander seeds
· 1 tsp dill seeds
· 1 tsp kosher salt
· 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
· 4 skin-on salmon fillets, 6 to 8 oz/170 to 225 g each 
 
1. In a food processor, combine the pickled beets, horseradish, parsley, and lemon zest and juice and pulse until the beets are coarsely chopped. Transfer to a small bowl and set aside.
 
2. Prepare a medium-hot fire in a charcoal or gas grill. Brush the grill rack with canola oil.
 
3. In a spice grinder, combine the coriander seeds and dill seeds and pulse until coarsely ground. Pour into a small bowl and stir in the salt and pepper. Evenly coat the skin side of each salmon fillet with one-fourth of the spice mixture.
 
4. Place the fillets, skin-side down, on the grill rack and cook until the skin starts to get crispy and the fillets can be easily lifted from the grill, 5 to 6 minutes. Flip the fillets and continue to cook until the flesh is firm to the touch and begins to flake when prodded with a knife tip, about 5 minutes longer.
 
5. Transfer the fillets to a platter and let rest for 5 minutes. Serve each fillet with one-fourth of the beet-horseradish mixture.

Jeremy and Jessica Nolen, New German Cooking: Recipes for Classics Revisited, Chronicle Books (2014). 
 

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