SPINACH BLINI AND SMOKED SALMON

Blinis are a type of pancake made with yeast. We eat a lot of blinis in France. This version is made with spinach and will delight you! Serve with smoked salmon, caviar or other smoked fish. Pair with a great Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire Valley. Enjoy!

Preparation: 20 min; cooking time: 15 min.

Serving 2

4 oz of Scottish smoked salmon

½ cup of light sour cream or a plain non- fat Greek yogurt

The juice of half a lemon

Salt and pepper

For the blini:

3.5 oz of all purpose flour

1 cup of whole milk

1 large egg

1/8 of highly active yeast

4 ¼ fresh spinach leaves

3 tbsp of unsalted butter

Fresh dill for garnish

Preparation of the blini:

Mix the yeast with 1/3 of a cup of warm milk. Let stand 10 minutes. Wash and drain the spinach leaves. Put them into the bowl of a blender. Blend the spinach leaves with the rest of the cold milk and the warm milk with the yeast.

Separate the egg white from the yolk and put into a small bowl.

Add the egg yolk to the spinach, mix for 2 minutes and add the flour. Season with salt. Taste the preparation and add some salt if needed. Let stand 30 minutes.

Beat the egg white with an immersion blender, whisk until stiff peaks form. Add the egg white to the spinach preparation.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

In a 10 inches ovenproof frying pan, melt 1 ½ tbsp of butter. Pour the blini mixture. Cook over medium-high heat 3 minutes on your stove. Place the frying pan in the oven and bake for about 7 minutes. When the top of the blini is cooked, take it out of the oven. Turn the blini over. Add 1 ½ tbsp of butter around and under the blini and bake 2 or 3 more minutes or until golden.

In a small bowl, mix the sour cream with the lemon juice, salt and pepper.

Cut the blini into 6 pieces. Display 3 pieces into 2 different plates, add some smoked salmon on top of the blini, add a tbsp of the cream and garnish with fresh dill.

Bon Appétit!