Tom Victor Gausdal's recipe:

Baked salmon with smoked Sandefjord butter

Baked salmon is a staple in Norway!

The rich, creamy, buttery sauce in this recipe pairs beautifully with most fish, and is often served with salmon.

Sandefjord butter, inspired by beurre blanc from France, is said to have first been made at a hotel in the small town of Sandefjord in Vestfold.

This butter sauce is super tasty but can it be made even better?

Norwegian chef and silver medallist at the Bocuse d'Or in 2005, Tom Victor Gausdal, has made his own variety of the classic dish, with a smoked version of the butter sauce.

If you want to experiment with smoky flavours, this recipe is for you!

(For a more traditional take, just skip the smoking part of the recipe.)

Ingredients:

(Makes 4 portions)

5-600 g salmon divided into 4 portions

A little olive oil

Salt and pepper

A few drops of lemon

Nasturtium

1 leek

50 g butter

Ingredients for the Sandefjord butter:

150 ml smoked cream (or regular cream)

100 g butter, in cubes

Lemon

Salt and pepper

2–3 tablespoons parsley or chives, finely chopped

Optional: caviar to garnish

Source: Tom Victor Gausdal

Method:

1. Place the salmon in a baking dish. Add olive oil and season with salt and pepper on both sides. Squeeze some lemon on top.

2. Bake in the oven at 140 degrees Celsius for about 10 minutes.

3. Rinse the leek and slice it into fine pieces. Put the leek in a saucepan and heat until tender in the butter with a splash of water. Season to taste.

Method for the Sandefjord butter:

If you want to skip the smoking of the cream, go straight to point 2.

1. Place the cream in a deep dish inside a lime kiln. Fire up a pot of smoking chips. Close again and leave the cream to smoke for half an hour.

2. Reduce the cream by half, turn down the heat and beat in the butter. Keep whipping until all the butter is mixed in well. It is important that it does not boil, but is simply kept warm.

3. Season with lemon juice, salt, pepper, and chopped parsley.

Arrange the salmon on top of the leeks. Top with plenty of smoked sauce. Garnish with nasturtium. Enjoy!

Norwegian salmon is one of the most versatile and beloved fish on the planet. Try it raw, smoked, fermented, baked, cooked, or grilled ... the list goes on!

Taste Norwegian Salmon

If you are a salmon lover, you should try the 18-course (!) tasting menu at the spectacular Iris. Book a table atthis restaurant inside the iconic Salmon eye that floats in the middle of the Hardangerfjord.