Smoked Salmon Blini Appetizer Adventure

From November through a rainy, cold spring, the agreement with our neighbors was unspoken. Holiday string lights on porches and outdoor trees stayed up. Those twinkly lights still bring me comfort, even as the days get sunnier and freer.

There have been other holiday holdovers. Sometimes I’ll rewatch the festive series “Dash & Lily” on Netflix late at night. And we finally saw the “Great British Bake-Off” New Year’s special featuring the cast of “Derry Girls” long after ringing in 2021.

In that episode, the actors are challenged to make smoked salmon and beetroot blinis straight out of the Before Times. Passing around a plate of picturesque hors d’oeuvres? For more than a year, our “appetizers” were often chips we ate over the sink.

But seeing that made me realize how much I missed thoughtful apéritifs. They call to mind pre-Covid parties that were an excuse to get all dressed up. Catered receptions. Champagne toasts. Makeshift dance floors. Sure, we’d had starters with local to-go orders, but the temperature was usually off by the time they were in front of us.

I yearned to prepare fancy mini pancakes and arrange savory delights on top, even just for a party of two. Beet cream? Not so much. Family and friends know the incident well. As a little kid I once mistook canned beet for canned cranberry sauce. Yeah. Didn’t have beets again until well into adulthood.

These days beets are back in my good graces, especially fresh roasted ones, but Prue’s bright pink cream still didn’t appeal to me. One of the pandemic’s few gifts was the confidence to draw inspiration from a recipe rather than follow it to the letter. So I kept the searing horseradish cream, tweaking an Alton Brown recipe slightly, and set my sights on nailing the blini part.

The first blinis I ever recall eating came in a plastic package from a grocery store in France during my junior year abroad. They seemed interesting, and vaguely familiar. From this distance I have no idea what we did with them — probably put cheese on top and called it a day. Prue’s blinis are tinier than small American pancakes. They’re puffier in the middle, too.

Getting the consistency right was not easy at altitude. The original recipe calls for slightly less milk than I actually needed for batter smooth enough to achieve circles rather than uneven blobs (the photos below are from an early attempt). Using a nonstick pan is key, we learned from watching the show. No oily blinis.

I’m not sure whether my own hors d’oeuvres would get Prue’s approval, but a little plate of them, freshly assembled, did feel luxurious. We had a lot to celebrate in that moment. So, for anyone who’s also easing back into the world, no matter what appetizers you’ve got in hand, this one is for you. Cheers!

Blinis with Horseradish Cream and Smoked Salmon
Adapted from Prue Leith and Alton Brown

Makes approximately 22

Cream Sauce:
½ C. sour cream
1 tsp. extra hot prepared grated horseradish
½ Tbsp. Dijon mustard
½ tsp. white wine or rice vinegar
¼ tsp. salt
⅛ tsp. freshly ground black pepper

Blinis:
1⅓ C. (170g) all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 large egg
1 Tbsp. olive oil
220g whole milk or slightly more at altitude

To Finish:
Smoked salmon, approximately 6 oz.
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
Fresh or freeze-dried dill

At least 4 hours prior to serving, make the horseradish cream sauce. In a small glass mixing bowl, combine all of the ingredients and whisk with a fork until it’s smooth. Cover and refrigerate.

If using fresh dill, mince it. For freeze-dried, just use a sprinkle. In a tiny bowl, combine the lemon juice with the dill and set aside.

The blinis can be made in advance. Separate the egg. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a small mixing bowl. Make a well in the center. Add the egg yolk and olive oil to the center and use a fork to draw the flour into the center. Slowly add the milk while continuing to whisk until the batter is smooth. If the batter still seems overly-thick, add a little bit more milk, especially at altitude.

Put the egg white in a separate clean bowl and use an electric hand mixer to beat into stiff, but not dry, peaks. Fold the stiff egg white into the batter with a spatula, preserving as much volume as you can.

Heat a nonstick skillet to medium. Use a tablespoon to dollop batter into the pan. Working in batches, cook the blinis for a minute or two until the mixture bubbles. Flip the blinis and cook until golden brown on the other side. Lower temperature as needed. Set cooked blinis on a rack to cool.

To serve, put a little horseradish cream on each blini. Then add a piece of smoked salmon and top with a drizzle of lemon juice. Vegetarian variation: Top with thin pickled beet slices in place of the salmon.

Refrigerate any leftovers in separate containers. Blinis taste best when eaten within a day or so.