Blini With Smoked Salmon
Blini With Smoked Salmon
These tiny, savory Blini (Russian pancakes) are topped with sour cream, salmon and fresh herbs. Olga, at Olga's Flavor Factory, suggests topping off the blini with caviar for an even more traditional approach.
Servings
6
Ingredients
- 1 stick of butter
- 1/3 cup buckwheat or whole wheat flour
- 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk
- 1/2 pound smoked salmon, thinly-sliced
- 1/4 cup sour cream or creme fraiche
- chives for garnishing
Directions
- In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the butter.
- Skim off the white foam with a spoon and discard. This is called clarifying the butter, which means you are removing the milk solids in the butter. Allow the butter to stand for a few minutes to settle and then pour out the butter into another bowl, leaving the rest of the milk solids on the bottom of the saucepan. Set aside the clarified butter.You will have more clarified butter than you need for this recipe. Store, covered, in the refrigerator and use for other dishes.
- Whisk the flours, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
- Combine the milk, egg and 1 Tablespoon clarified butter in a liquid measuring cup and add to the dry ingredients, whisking to combine. The batter will be kind of thin.
- Heat some clarified butter on medium heat on a griddle or a nonstick skillet. Using a spoon, pour a small amount of batter (about 1 Tablespoon) on the griddle and cook until golden on both sides.You’ll know when to flip the blini over when the top of the pancake has tiny bubbles across its surface.
- Top with a small dallop of sour cream, a piece of smoked salmon and fresh herbs.
- Since they are so small, they cook so quickly. You can make a huge batch for any party in no time at all. To keep the finished pancakes warm, place them on a baking sheet in a 200 degree oven. These are best served warm.