Holiday Appetizers: Salmon Pizza with Jacques Pépin

Jacques Pépin is truly one of our favorite chefs of all time. Author of 25 cookbooks and host of over 300 cooking shows on public television, his elegant recipes and detailed instructions command a deep level of respect from both home cooks and culinary experts throughout the world.

In this video from Food and Wine, Jacques and his daughter Claudine prepare a 10 minute recipe of cured salmon gravlax pizza, a quick and delicious appetizer that would bring holiday cheer to your Christmas party with minimal effort!

What is gravlax you ask? Scandinavian in origin, gravlax literally translates to “salmon dug into the ground”. In the middle ages, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian and Estonian fisherman had a special technique to cure their freshly caught salmon. They salted it and fermented it (to preserve the fish) by burying it into the sand for several days. Modern preparation of gravlax is much simpler, thinly sliced salmon is simply cured with a dry rub of salt, sugar, and often dill.

Jacques Pépin’s recipe for salmon gravlax pizza calls for the following ingredients: thinly sliced raw salmon, kosher salt, pepper, brown sugar, sour cream, horseradish, a cooked thin pizza crust (you may use a frozen pizza dough to prepare this), thinly sliced red onion, black olives, capers, and basil.