Salmon Spread Appetizer
Introduction
This is mama Miche and today in the magic kitchen we are making a delicious salmon spread.
At our Passover Seder, I usually serve salmon in lieu of gefilte fish. Gefilte fish. What is it and… why? Gefilte means “stuffed” in Yiddish. In more recent times, the fish is deboned, chopped, and/or ground and mixed with matzo meal, onion, eggs, and seasonings. It’s then shaped into oval balls that are poached in fish stock.
I have often compared it to a fish hot dog. Unless it is homemade and made well, I’m sorry, but I think it’s nasty. The stuff in the jar should stay in the jar and never enter your gastric system. It’s just my never humble opinion. The history of Gefilte fish is fascinating, but he taste is just not appealing to me.
I remember having it at every Jewish holiday that my paternal grandmother hosted. I like horseradish, so I drowned the gefilte fish in it and felt my sinuses clear. I would eat the tiniest bite of Gefilte with a giant glob of horseradish. It was my least favorite part of any of her holiday meals. She was not a great cook, and that gefilte fish came right out of the jellied Manischewitz jar. I would just pick at my plate until it was time for dessert. As mentioned, she could not cook to save her life, but her baking was out of this world fantastic. To this day, the best carob cake and carrot cake I’ve ever had were both baked by my grandmother.
This salmon spread is one of my favorite things to serve it as an appetizer at Passover. It’s a perfect substitute for gefilte fish for Seder dinner. In the video that accompanies this recipe, I show how to make cucumber rolls stuffed with the salmon spread. They look like little flowers; perfect for the spring holiday. You will need to use a long English cucumber to really make it work well. But if you do not have the tools or the patience to serve it that way, you can opt to scoop out the seeds to make little cucumber boats stuffed with the spread. You can use a pastry bag or make your own from a Ziploc to fill the boats.
I like garnishing these with a small slice of the salmon reserved from the mixture, capers, and thin onion slices. You can use some or all of these garnishes, or add some of your own.
This spread is also versatile. You can just spread it over matzo during Passover. And you can enjoy this yummy spread any time of year for a holiday or just because. Enjoy as part of the Break Fast to celebrate the end of Yom Kippur. They are fantastic any time on bagels for brunch, or as an omelet stuffing. But be careful. Eating too much salmon can gill you. 😃
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Chag Pesach Sameach!
Tools
Sharp knife
Cutting board
Blender/food processor
Rubber spatula
Mixing bowl
Mandoline/vegetable peeler, or melon baller
Pastry Bag (optional)
Ingredients
Makes about 20 servings
Spread
1 8oz. Block cream cheese
1 4oz. Package Nova Scotia lox
1/2 4oz. Jar capers (a little liquid is fine)
1 lemon (juice & zest)
To Plate-
2 English cucumbers
1 Small red onion
Capers
Fresh dill
Lemon slices
Directions
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Salmon Spread
Remove cream cheese from the package and cut it into about 8-10 blocks. Cut the salmon slices into smaller pieces. Reserve some of the salmon slices to use later for garnish. Roll the whole lemon a few times on the cutting board. This makes getting all the juice out easier.
Place the cream cheese, salmon pieces, and capers into your blender or food processor. Cover with the zest of the lemon peel. Extract as much of the juice from the lemon as possible without getting the pulp into the mixture.
Blend everything well, until fairly smooth. For best results scrape the mixture from the sides with a rubber spatula between blending cycles (about 15 seconds each cycle). it’s fine to have some small chunks. Remove from the mixer and place in a small bowl.
For the cucumber rolls:
Cut the cucumber in half lengthwise. Slice each half into very thin slices lengthwise using a mandoline or a vegetable peeler. Spread a thin layer of salmon spread over one side of the slice. Carefully roll the cucumber slice up and stand on one end.
For cucumber cups:
Cut the cucumbers into 3/4-inch-thick rounds, discarding the ends. Using a small spoon or melon scooper to scoop the seeds and some of the flesh out of each round to form a small cup.
Stuff the center with the spread using a pastry bag (if you don’t have one you can make one from a small zipper bag).
Garnish rolls or boats:
Thinly slice the red onion. Dress with any combo of the reserved lox, sliced red onion, caper, dill, and/or lemon slice.
Notes:
This can be refrigerated for up to 4 days, so you can make this ahead of the holiday and save meal preparation time on the day of your event.
