Salmon Blini
This is Philip Tessier's scrumptious seafood-centered spin on the humble blini, the traditional wheat flour pancake with Russian and Ukranian origins. In this recipe, a delicate scallop mousse is blended (using the always-trusty Robot Coupe) with seasonings, cream and a healthy dose of crème fraîche for good measure, then folded with Yukon gold purée and stiff-peak egg whites to create a blini batter. The blini mixture is spread on top of a gorgeous fillet of salmon, then cooked in copious amounts of butter, as any self-respecting blini would be.
Philip Tessier plates this delicate-looking, yet rich-in-flavor dish with our apple purée (see Rosendale Online for recipe), and tops it with pea tendrils, American Sterling Caviar and curled apple slices.
- Servings 4
- Dish Main
- Time 3 hours
- Skill Professional
Ingredients
Scallop Mousse ingredients
Blini ingredients
To Serve ingredients
Equipment
Parts
Scallop Mousse
In an ice-cold Robot Coupe fitted with a sharp blade, process the scallops until smooth.
Add the egg whites and spin until emulsified. Scrape sides and lid.
Add dry ingredients (both salts, pepper, sugar, polyphosphate, potato starch) to the mixture and allow to spin until mixture begins to look smooth. Scrape sides and lid. Slowly emulsify cream into mixture, then scrape sides and lid again.
Add crème fraîche and spin until the mousse becomes smooth and develops a nice sheen.
With a rubber spatula, transfer mixture from Robot Coupe into a 2-inch hotel pan. Rapidly chill mousse-filled hotel pan over ice.
Blini
Press the warm, cooked potato through a tamis into in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Beat with a rubber spatula to ensure there are no lumps and that the potato is smooth.
Add the mousse base and mix quickly until well incorporated.
Add the egg yolks and flour and mix vigorously with spatula.
Fold in the whipped egg whites and mix until smooth.
Using an offset spatula or spoon, smoothly cover each piece of salmon with a 2-millimeter layer of the blini mix.
Heat a skillet or frying pan over medium-low heat. Add butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, onto the heated skillet.
Place a salmon piece with the blini side down onto the hot skillet and cook for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Using a metal spatula, flip and continue cooking until salmon is golden-brown, about 2–3 minutes more. While salmon blini is cooking, continually baste blini side with butter.
When blini is finished cooking, lay on a paper-towel-lined plate to soak up excess butter. Repeat with the remaining pieces of salmon.
To Serve
Using a sharp knife, slice thin pieces of apple and roll into a cone shape. Set aside and reserve for next step.
Using a pastry brush, paint the top of the blini with some clarified butter, then spoon a quenelle of caviar on top of each portion of salmon.
Place some apple purée on the plate, then place the salmon blini in the center of the plate.
Lay a pea shoot over the blini, then add one of the reserved apple cones next to quenelle of caviar.
Serve while hot and enjoy!
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