Leftovers and a food challenge

I just froze the last piece of my gravlax, and all the remaining meatballs, and the small sausages, and tonight I will also freeze the remaining ham. Christmas food is great, but there´s definitely a limit to how much of it you can eat whithin a single week. This way we can enjoy it all January - also the month when most people, including us, maybe doesn´t exactly own heaps of money after all Christmas shopping... Do you know, I think I will challenge myself. No food shopping in January - except milk, potatoes and fresh vegetables. No frozen things, no tins, no rice, no new exciting flours or sugars. And I will try not to buy any meat, fish or chicken either. Once a week, tops, and nothing before I have used the shrimps and pork and stuff from the freezer. One of my favourite non-food bloggers gave herself this challenge when they were moving abroad and I wanted to try too. Now the time has come! Let´s see how long I can manage without my beloved food shopping... Join me if you want to save money and do something about bulging cabinets and freezers!

I talked about gravlax before, this star, this crown of the Christmas buffet with its delicious creamy sauce. Here´s the recipe, suitable not only for Christmas and Easter...

Gravlax
Serves at least ten people on a buffet table.
1 kg salmon, preferrably the middle part. It is recommended in Sweden to freeze the fish for at least 48 hours to kill parasites
2-3 teaspoons of whole white pepper
4 tbsp salt
4 tbsp sugar
a large bunch of fresh dill, roughly chopped

Fillet the salmon and take away the bones. Leave the skin on. Crush the peppercorns and mix with sugar and salt. Rub the salmon with the mix, especially the meat sides. Put the fillets together with a lot of dill in between (meat sides together) so the thick part on one comes on the thin part of the other. Put everything in double plastic bags, seal well and put in the fridge for 48 hours. Turn the bag now and then so the juices spread evenly.
Take out the fillets and carefully scrape off the sugar/salt/dill mix. The salmon is now firm, shiny and all pink with a delicious taste! Serve in very thin slices with some mustard sauce, in flakes on egg halves, with shrimps or whatever you can think of. The salmon keeps for about a week in the fridge and often I simply fry the last part in thick slices and serve with potatoes. It is also delicious to grill this salmon! You can freeze gravlax for a couple of months too.

Swedish mustard sauce
2-3 tbsp sweet mustard
1-2 tbsp sugar
1-2 tbsp of white wine vinegar or similar. I always use apple cider vinegar
100 ml oil, rapeseed or sunflower or corn
2-3 tbsp finely chopped dill
salt and white pepper
Mix the mustard, sugar and vinegar in a bowl. Put the bowl on a damp dishcloth so it doesn´t jump around. Then add the oil carefully and stir, stir, stir! The mustard mix should absorbe the oil and become thick and creamy. Spice to taste with salt and white pepper and stir in the dill.