Refine a traditional recipe and try making these warm Potato Pancakes, which are topped with smoked salmon curls and a spoonful of crème fraîche. A Cucumber and Dill Salad completes the meal as a tangy side. These recipes are excerpted from Sophie Dahl’s Very Fond of Food: A Year in Recipes (Ten Speed Press, 2012). One-hundred simple and appealing seasonal recipes accompany personal anecdotes about food and the good life from author and rising food star Sophie Dahl. These Potato Pancakes with Smoked Salmon and Cucumber and Dill Salad recipes are taken from the chapter “Spring Lunches.”
Potato Pancakes with Smoked Salmon and a Cucumber and Dill Salad Recipe
makes 8 pancakes
For the Cucumber Salad
• 1/2 cucumber, peeled and thinly sliced into rounds
• 1 tablespoon buttermilk
• 1 tablespoon light olive oil
• 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
• A squeeze of lemon juice
• Salt and pepper
• A small handful of chopped fresh dill
For the Potato Pancakes
• 2/3 cup/125 g mashed potato
• Scant 1/2 cup/50 g spelt flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• Salt and pepper
• Scant 1/2 cup/100 ml buttermilk
• 1 potato (about 3 1/2 ounces/100 g), peeled
• A small handful of chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 7 ounces/200 g smoked salmon
• 3 tablespoons crème fraîche
Make the Cucumber Salad by assembling the cucumber rounds onto a big plate and mixing the buttermilk, olive oil, white wine vinegar, lemon, and salt and pepper together into a dressing in a small bowl. Pour the dressing over the cucumber and garnish with dill, reserving a bit for the salmon.
To make the Potato Pancakes, in a mixing bowl, mix together the mashed potato, flour, baking soda, and a pinch of salt, then beat in the buttermilk. Grate the potato, squeezing out any liquid; add into the mix with the parsley and season with salt and pepper.
Heat a griddle or frying pan and melt the butter. Ladle in the potato pancake batter, in batches if need be, making individual hotcake-sized rounds. Fry them for 3 to 5 minutes until burnished and brown, then turn and cook for a couple of minutes longer. Lay the Potato Pancakes on a plate, make a curl of Smoked Salmon on top of each one, dot with crème fraîche and dill, and serve the Cucumber and Dill Salad on the side. Drizzle the remaining dressing over the salmon, if you like.
More Recipes from Very Fond of Food: A Year in Recipes:
Reprinted with permission from Very Fond of Food: A Year in Recipesby Sophie Dahl, copyright © 2011. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Random House, Inc. Photo credit: Jan Baldwin © 2011