Giant Smoked Salmon & Beetroot Blini

These super-sized buckwheat pancakes make a great dinner party or festive starter for sharing

• Cooking Time Prep 35 mins
  Cook 10 mins
• Skill Level Moderately easy
• Servings Makes 3 giant blinis, each cuts into 8 slices

Nutrition per serving

• Kcalories

  300

• Protein

  13g

• Carbs

  21g

• Fat

  18g

• Saturates

  10g

• Fibre

  2g

• Sugar

  4g

• Salt

  2.2g

Ingredients

• 200g tub crème fraîche
• 2 tbsp horseradish sauce
• zest 1 lemon, juice of ½, plus wedges to serve
• 140g cooked beetroot (not in vinegar), drained and finely diced
• 1 tsp rapeseed oil, plus a drizzle
• 200g pack smoked salmon
• 1 tbsp small capers, drained and rinsed
• handful rocket leaves
• For the blinis
• 100g buckwheat flour
• 100g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 225ml milk
• 2 large eggs, separated
• 25g butter, melted, plus extra for cooking
• drizzle of oil, for cooking

Directions

1. First, make up the blini batter. Put the flours, baking powder, ½ tsp salt, the milk, egg yolks and melted butter in a bowl and whisk until smooth. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites until they hold stiff peaks. Stir a good spoonful of the whisked whites into the batter to loosen the mixture, then add the remaining egg whites and carefully fold everything together with a big metal spoon.
2. Heat a small knob of butter and a drizzle of oil in a large frying pan, roughly 23cm wide across the base. Pour a third of the blini mixture in the pan, using your spoon to encourage the batter towards the edge of the pan. Leave to cook for a few mins, until the blini starts to set around the edges and the underside is golden brown. Slide onto a plate, then carefully flip back into the pan and cook for a further 1-2 mins until golden. Repeat with the remaining mixture. Leave the blinis to cool on a wire rack, then place on a plate, separated by a layer of baking parchment and covered with cling film. The blinis will keep like this for 24 hrs.
3. Mix the crème fraîche, horseradish, most of the lemon zest, a good squeeze of lemon juice and some seasoning in a bowl. In a second bowl, toss the beetroot, oil and a squeeze of lemon juice. Set aside until ready to serve.
4. Place each blini on a board or large plate. Spoon on dollops of crème fraîche, arrange slices of salmon over and scatter beetroot, capers and the remaining lemon zest on top. Finish with a few rocket leaves and a drizzle of oil. Cut and serve with lemon wedges.

Categories: All Christmas