Christmas herring — two ways

A very quick Christmas post today. Quick because it’s Christmas, and as we all know, there’s no time for idling at Christmas. At Christmas, you eat. And what do you eat? Whatever goes with vodka.

Herring, that’s what. With vodka. Unless, of course, you can have steak tartare 😉

So, to help you spend Christmas showing proper respect for tradition, I’ve prepared very simple recipes for herring in two completely different guises.

Leave the carp alone. In fact, I think we can now say quite honestly that Magda Gessler is the only person in this country who can get away with openly saying carp tastes good. But certainly not the carp on your Christmas Eve table 😉

So here’s my suggestion: make herring. Don’t kill a carp. Preferably make herring two ways. These recipes are super-easy, so you’ll have them done before the first star appears.

And the result is stunning. Visually, but above all in flavour. Simple, yet you’ll surprise even the greatest connoisseurs. So get to it. I thoroughly recommend it.

Pro tip: soak the herring fillets in milk; instructions in the recipe below

Oh… and by the way, thanks for being here even at Christmas. I wish you all the best, and above all that you don’t repeat mistakes you’ve already made. As someone told me recently, learning from mistakes is very expensive, so you need to learn quickly. This past year has taught me a great deal, particularly through mistakes. If it’s been the same for you, use that knowledge next year to make things better, or preferably… the best 🙂 All the best, dear readers!

PS

This recipe has a completely different structure from the usual posts, because it’s rather like 2 posts in one, with one shared element: soaking. I hope you won’t get lost :p

At a glance:

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Soaking time: about 10 hours

Time for the flavours to develop: a day

Serves: a kilogram of herring makes a Christmas starter for a large family

Calories: Christmas, Christmas, Christmas…

Ingredients for soaking the herring:

• 1 litre milk (mine was 2% fat)

Ingredients for herring in linseed oil with sun-dried tomatoes and cranberries:

• 600 grams salted matjes-style herring fillets  (drained weight; I simply wanted more of the tomato version, and used 1kg of drained herring fillets in total)
• 1 jar sun-dried tomatoes with cranberries(I think you can get them in any Biedronka: in oil with dried cranberries; by the way, this isn’t an advert)
• dried hot red chilli
• 10 black peppercorns
• 250 ml linseed oil

Ingredients for herring in linseed oil with dill:

• 400 grams salted matjes-style herring fillets (drained weight)
• 3 bunches of dill (small bunches like the ones at Biedronka; if you buy it at a good market, one generous bunch will do)
• 250 ml linseed oil
• 15 black peppercorns
• 10 mustard seeds
• freshly ground black pepper

Two kinds of Christmas herring:

I started by soaking the herring so it would be delicate rather than excessively salty. This is probably the most important part of the recipe: after proper soaking, once we cover it with olive oil, the herring will take on just the flavours we want and won’t be unbearably salty.

Here’s how I did it:

• I drained all the matjes-style herring fillets and put them in a large bowl. I covered them with water and changed it every half-hour for 4 hours.
• After 4 hours, I rinsed the herring once more under running water, drained it and covered it with 2% milk.
• The herring soaked in the milk for another 5 hours.
• Then I poured away the milk, rinsed each fillet under running water and dried it with kitchen paper.
• The herring fillets were ready to use.

Now for preparing the two versions. I started with the tomatoes, using my taller, larger jar.

Herring fillets with sun-dried tomatoes and cranberries:

I drained the tomatoes and cranberries of their cheap olive oil 🙂 and chopped them finely. I poured some linseed oil into the bottom of the jar, added the black peppercorns and a teaspoon of dried hot chilli, then the chopped tomatoes and cranberries. Finally, I added the herring fillets cut into 3 cm strips and mixed thoroughly. I poured in the remaining linseed oil, closed the jar and put it in the fridge overnight. They taste best after at least a day mingling with the other flavours.

Herring fillets with dill:

These are even easier. Just pour some linseed oil into the bottom of a jar and add the mustard seeds, pepper and 1/4 of the chopped dill. Arrange the 3 cm strips of herring in layers, covering each with more dill. Finally, add freshly ground pepper, stir with a spoon and pour over the linseed oil. Close tightly and refrigerate for at least a day.

That’s all. You can see that it really is possible to prepare very good herring fillets very quickly. So get to it. Enjoy!

Merry Christmas!