Sunday, November 22, 2009

Easy Canapés: Salmon Appetizers with Lemon Pepper



We spent a long weekend in London in the beginning of November, mixing work with some pleasure. The latter part included spending two full days with the always lovely Johanna and her family in Kingston. Johanna is the Queen of Canapeś, and I used the opportunity to browse through her library of canapé and fingerfood and appetisers cookbooks, looking for simple and delicious ideas I could manage myself. We're likely to host a number of festive buffets over the next few weeks, so I could do with an extra idea or two.

Here's one super-simple canapé idea that I served to a bunch of my girlfriends last Sunday. You need good-quality smoked salmon for this, as the salmon is served almost au naturel. I spotted this in Canapeś (sold as Hors d'Oeuvres in the US). You need small cocktail sticks for this appetizer.

Smoked Salmon Canapés with Lemon Pepper
(Suitsulõhesuupisted "sidrunipipraga")
Serves a dozen

100 g smoked salmon*
half a lemon, preferably organic
freshly ground black pepper

If necessary, cut salmon slices into thin, long strips (about an inch wide). Weave each slice onto a cocktail stick, as seen on the photo above. Place on a serving tray.
Wash and dry the lemon thoroughly, then grate generously some lemon peel/lemon zest over the salmon slices.
Finally, season with black pepper.
Serve at once or cover with clingfilm and keep in the freezer until needed. Let the appetizers come back to the room temperature before serving, as the flavour of the fish is better when not cold.

* I used "Saare Hõbe" cold smoked salmon strips from Ösel Fish.

3 comments:

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) said...

I'm always terrible at coming up with elegant appetizers, so this one is so appealing to me, as good quality smoked salmon is becoming easier to find in the markets here.

Mary Q. said...

That is an excellent recipe and idea. I love salmon as it is so healthy and easy to cook with. I love the recipes and kitchen ideas I get from your blog.

Pille said...

Lydia - one indeed needs to have good quality salmon here. Not always easy, but I've recently discovered couple of brands that I quite like.

Mary Q - indeed, this is an extremely easy dish!! Glad you like Nami-Nami!