Blinis with cream cheese and smoked salmon

blinis with cream cheese and smoked salmon

I don’t know about you but sometimes I get stuck when I have to produce starters or canapés. Heaven knows why as  there is all sorts of things one can do! Still the imagination sometimes lets me down. And that’s where these little babies can come in handy! Blinis are small pancakes made with buckwheat flour. They are traditionally made in Eastern countries. Candi must know about these as they are popular in Russia. They have become widely known here in the UK too ( I am not sure about Italy) and are sold even in supermarkets. However, it is much more satisfying to produce your own, don’t you think? I had never tried to make them before but I tell you now: I shall do them again. They are really very straightforward and can be made in advance and garnished at a later stage making them ideal as finger food at buffets and parties. Obviously you could top them with lots of other things. Caviar would be very nice, I reckon, if a bit expensive! For this recipe you could use crème fraiche as an alternative to cream cheese. There are many recipes out there to make blinis. I simply used the one written on the packet of the buckwheat flour I bought, which tasted perfectly nice. So here I am sharing it with you.

INGREDIENTS

2 medium eggs

175 gr. buckwheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

300 ml milk

pinch of salt

1 tbsp. oil (to fry)

METHOD

Whisk the eggs until frothy.

Mix in the flour, salt, baking powder and milk.

Beat well to make a smooth batter.

Heat a little oil in a heavy, non stick frying pan. When hot drop in tablespoons of the batter. Mine measured approx 4 cm. in diameter.

Cook until the underside is golden, then flip over and cook on the other side. This process won’t take you long. I did 4 at a time.

 

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2 Responses to “Blinis with cream cheese and smoked salmon”


  • Oh che buoni, Lucina! E proprio a tempo. Inizia il tempo dei bliny, soprattutto dolci, con il Carnevale russo, la Maslenitza (da maslo, burro). I bliny, un po’ più grandi, hanno radici lontane e, dicono, hanno a che fare con il sole e con il primo sentore della primavera ancora lontana ma già intuita. Hanno a che fare con un presentimento di risurrezione e infatti compaiono perfino alla fine dei Fratelli Karamazov di Dostoevskij :)

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