Lavish Latkes

Lavish Latkes

💙 Lavish Latkes 💙

Two Ways:
Caviar, Crème Fraîche, Chives
Smoked Salmon, Crème Fraîche, Grated Radish

My deli-style Reuben Latkes were a big hit earlier in the week, but for the grand finale, we’re serving Lavish Latkes. Crème fraîche has a luxurious, velvety texture that balances the crispy fried savory latkes with a smooth and rich mouthfeel and a mild tangy flavor. Generous individual servings of caviar and smoked salmon add to the extravagance. Chives and grated radish add color, texture, and a tasteful finishing flourish.

Hanukkah Table

The last night of Hanukkah is special because all eight candles on the menorah are lit, creating a beautiful display of light. It is a time for reflection on the significance of the holiday, the importance of religious freedom, and the enduring spirit of hope and resilience. 💙

Lavish Latkes

Note: Caviar harvested from sturgeon is not kosher according to Jewish dietary law, fish must have scales and fins to be considered so. Sturgeon do not have scales. Whitefish, bowfin, and salmon roe, as well as vegan caviar, are excellent kosher alternatives to sturgeon caviar.

Lavish Latkes Recipe

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Smoked Salmon Grilled Cheese

Smoked Salmon Grilled Cheese

🧀 Smoked Salmon Grilled Cheese Sandwich 🧀
Inspired By Eric Ripert

The Chef is a genius at pairing seafood with minimal ingredients to create a dish where the diner is astonished that those simple components could be combined in such a way to result in something so spectacular.

Here a plain old grilled cheese sandwich is perfect in its four-star simplicity with just four items: smoked salmon, Swiss cheese, bread, and butter. After I came across this Instagram post by Eric Ripert, and being a lover of salmon in all its preparations, Smoked Salmon Grilled Cheese just had to be on my menu.

At Le Bernardin Chef Ripert is world-renowned for his exquisite, clean, seafood-centered cuisine. With this sandwich he proves that every dish does not have to be fancy to be sublime.

Smoked Salmon Grilled Cheese Recipe

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Russian Shuba Salad Verrines

Russian Shuba Salad Verrines

Russian Shuba Salad Verrines
AKA Fur Coat Salad

My Nana (paternal grandmother) was born in Kiev in 1894. She was an excellent cook, but she never served a Shuba Salad…most likely due to the fact that it was invented after the time her family fled to escape the pogroms when she was a young girl.

The story has it that sometime in the early 1900s, a restaurateur in Moscow named Anastas Bogomilov created the dish to calm and satiate his rowdy vodka-drunk customers.

Striking, super-flavorful, layered Shuba Salad is often served for Christmas and New Year’s now, and traditionally made with chopped pickled herring. Although I am a fan of pickled herring, here I substituted an appetizing fish with broader appeal, smoked salmon. Today, January 7th, is Orthodox Christmas – celebrated in Russia, Ukraine, and many central and eastern European countries as well as other parts of the world. It’s time to enjoy some Shuba!

The dish’s intriguing name “Herring Under a Fur Coat” is translated to English from seledka pod shuboi or shuba.  Shuba means fur coat in Russian, here the fish is nestled under a coating of fluffy soft vegetables and dressing.

Nana did wear a fluffy Russian Sable Fur Coat to protect her against Chicago’s harshest winters, but alas, despite my Russian ancestry, there was no Shuba Salad in my youth…but I am more than happy to have discovered it now.

Fur Coat Salad Recipe

smoked coho salmon fillet Continue reading “Russian Shuba Salad Verrines”

Smoked Salmon Tostadas, Baja White Sauce

Smoked Salmon Tostadas

Smoked Salmon Tostadas, Baja White Sauce

It’s a riot of colors, textures, and flavors! Silky-smoky-salty salmon, crunchy shredded cabbage, nutty-buttery avocado, peppery-crisp radish, bright-green-vegetal jalapeño, screaming-hot habanero, zesty-sour lime, herby-citrusy cilantro, sweet-tangy pickled red onion all happily combined atop crispy-charred corn tortillas. And all dressed with Baja White Sauce, that classic sauce served on top of those crave-worthy fish tacos in Baja, California.

Smoked Salmon Tostadas Recipe

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Norwegian Smoked Salmon Toast

Norwegian Smoked Salmon ToastNorwegian Smoked Salmon Toast
Poached Egg, Steamed Baby Beets, Wild Arugula
Horseradish Cream Cheese, Pickled Red Onion

How many colors, textures, and flavors can fit on one piece of toast? Well, lots. But to be worth the effort, they must harmonize and have a natural affinity for each other. That is the beauty of this Norwegian Smoked Salmon Toast. It is pleasing to the eye with pretty hues of orange, yellow, red, pink and green. And it has a balanced variety of tastes and textures: earthy and sweet, creamy and pungent, silky and buttery, peppery, jammy, fresh, crunchy, sour, toasty, rich, salty…all this makes for one delicious piece of toast.

Norwegian Smoked Salmon Toast Recipe

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