Buckwheat Blinis with Wild Salmon, Salmon Roe & Dill Cream

For crowd-pleasing Christmas appetisers, look no further than these festive salmon blinis. This easy buffet snack can be made with any kind of salmon or fish roe, and paired with a garnish of plain or flavoured tarama. This brilliant staple of the party foods repertoire can be served in infinite variations.

Preparation time: 30 minutes • Cooking time: 15 minutes • Resting time: 30 minutes

Serves 

• 4 – 6 slices of wild salmon
• 25 cl (8.5 fl oz) unpasteurised creme fraiche
• ½ bunch of dill
• 125 g (4.4 oz) wild salmon roe

For the blinis

• 60 g (2.1 oz) buckwheat flour
• 100 g (3.5 oz) wheat flour
• 4 g (1 level tspn) baker’s yeast
• 20 cl (6.75 fl oz) milk
• 1 egg yolk + 2 egg whites
• 30 g (1.1 oz) salted butter
• 20 cl (6.75 fl oz) whipping cream
• A pinch of salt
• 1 tsp brown sugar (optional)

Method

To make the blinis

1. Whip the cream while it’s nice and cold (the trick is to put it in the freezer for 15 minutes beforehand). Keep half of it (3.5 fl oz) out to use in the next stage of the recipe, and set aside the rest in the fridge.
2. Melt the butter and in the meantime, dissolve the yeast in a few spoonfuls of warm water.
3. In a bowl, whisk together the milk, two flours, egg yolk, melted butter and whipped cream.
4. Whisk the egg whites in a separate bowl until stiff, then gently fold them into the main mixture with a spatula.
5. Leave to stand for 40 minutes in the fridge.
6. Melt a knob of butter in a hot frying pan and drop in little dollops of blini mix.
7. Fry for 3 minutes on one side, turn over, and fry for 1 minute.
8. Remove and place the blinis on absorbent kitchen roll.

To make the Dill Cream

1. Finely chop the dill. Zest the lime and squeeze the juice from one half of it.
2. Mix the dill, lime zest and juice with the creme fraiche.
3. Set aside in a cool place.

 To serve

1. Place a dollop of cream on each blini and arrange the sliced wild salmon prettily with a few grains of salmon roe. Sprinkle with dill or edible flowers.
2. Serve immediately.

Organisation Tip

Plan ahead for your festive events by preparing the blinis in advance and freezing them until the big day

Photographs: Aimery Chemin • Culinary stylism: Coralie Ferreira