It’s Party Time: Smoked Salmon Rillettes

On 6 February 1952, a 25 year old woman was given the huge responsibility of looking after lots and lots of people. In a world where women traditionally took a back seat to men, my feminist side says this was a momentous event and a huge step forward for women.  60 Years later, on June 5^th, 2012, lots and lots of people will be allowed to have parties to celebrate the 60^th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign in the United Kingdom. Some might say this is a bit frivolous, but never fear, there are more dignified and meaningful festivities planned in honour of one of the longest-reigning monarchs in Europe. In an odd nod to Britain’s least favourite neighbours – yes, I mean the French – lots and lots of people will be given not one, but two days off to celebrate, making it a 4-day weekend or “pont.” The extra day off forms a bridge (or “pont” in French) between the weekend and the actual holiday which falls on a Tuesday.

Now if I was going to be truly cynical, I’d speculate that these four days of Diamond Jubilee celebrations will be as good an excuse to get drunk and rowdy as any, and that the £19 billion that bank holidays purportedly cost the UK will be spent cleaning up four days of improper behaviour. However, this is a cooking blog, not a political one, so I shall refrain 😉

And in an unexpectedly modern move, the Royal Household has created a special website. The official website of The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee even has social media links right at the top so you can’t miss them. Can you believe it? The British Monarchy has a Facebook page, a Twitter profile, its own YouTube channel, and a Flickr photostream. It’s a far cry from the days when news took weeks to reach Buckingham Palace on horseback.

So how can I make my mark and participate in the festivities? I shall contribute a very special recipe or two that I shall be making in my trusty Thermomix to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee at our own street party.

« Les rillettes de saumon de la grand-mère d’Aurélie » are a wonderfully tasty concoction fit for a queen. The original recipe comes from a French grandmother, and I have been making them for about six years now, ever since my friend Coralie gave me the recipe which she published in her personal blog. Coralie now writes the delightful and informative London: Tea Time in Wonderland where you can always find hundreds of ideas for what to do in the capital – and what to eat when you’re there!

Salmon Rillettes (Pâté of Fresh and Smoked Salmon)
Makes 30 canapés or serves 6 generously as a starter. Can be doubled or even tripled for a big party!

Ingredients
400 g fresh salmon
150 g crème fraîche
1 bunch fresh dill, stalks removed
2 slices of smoked salmon
75 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
juice of 1 lemon
30 g salmon eggs (optional)
salt & pepper to taste

Method

1. Put a bowl into the refrigerator to chill. Put the fresh salmon onto the tray of your Varoma steamer. Fill the Thermomix bowl with 1 litre of water (1,000 g on Thermomix’s built-in weighing scales), put the lid on the bowl, place the Varoma on the lid, and steam your salmon fillets on Varoma setting/15 minutes/Speed 2 or until the fish is just cooked through. Carefully remove the Varoma lid and place it upside down on your worktop to catch the drips and put the Varoma on the lid. Let the salmon cool on the Varoma tray while you continue the recipe.
2. Empty the Thermomix bowl, rinse it in cold water and cool it down completely (or use a second TM bowl!). Insert butterfly whisk. Weigh in the crème fraîche and whip 3 minutes/Speed 4 or until it’s nice and thick and forms peaks. Scrape the whipped crème fraîche into your cold bowl, cover with cling film/plastic wrap and return to the fridge. There’s no need to wash your TM bowl as all the ingredients are ending up combined in the end 😉
3. Drop a generous handful of dill leaves on the running blades of your Thermomix at Speed 6; turn off immediately. Remove the skin and all the bones from the now cooled steamed salmon and add to the Thermomix bowl. Add the smoked salmon, butter, lemon juice, salt and pepper and mix 20 seconds/Speed 7 or until you have a chunky paste. Scrape sides of bowl and mix again a few seconds on Speed 4. If you’re doubling or tripling the recipe you’ll need to churn your mixture with the Thermomix spatula to ensure that all the ingredients reach the blade.
4. Get your bowl of whipped crème fraîche from the refrigerator and stir the fish mixture into it. If using, stir in the optional salmon eggs with the spatula. Refrigerate until serving time. May be made up to two days in advance (the flavours will meld together beautifully). Serve by rounded teaspoonfuls on aperitif spoons, garnished with a sprig of fresh dill, or serve in pots to spread on blinis for a more substantial treat.

There are zillions of recipes on the web for Blinis, a traditional Russian yeast pancake made from naturally gluten-free buckwheat flour. In perfect Russian grammar, blini is both the singular and the plural (one blini, two blini) but those of us who don’t speak Russian usually add an S and say “pass me a whole plate of those gorgeous blinis, please!” The recipe below is easy to make, especially when you have a Thermomix to cut down on the number of processes – and on the washing up, too!

Blinis
Recipe by olive magazine, adapted for Thermomix by Madame Thermomix. Makes approximately 30 blinis.

Ingredients
175 g milk
1/3 tsp dried yeast
5 g butter
1 egg, separated
70 g buckwheat flour
70 g plain flour
1/3 tsp baking powder
butter or oil for frying

Method

1. Place milk, yeast, butter and egg yolk in Thermomix bowl. Warm at 37° C/3 minutes/Speed 2. Add the dry ingredients and mix 20 seconds/Speed 4. Scrape the sides of the Thermomix bowl and whisk a few more seconds until you have a smooth batter. Reserve.
2. Insert butterfly whisk into your second Thermomix bowl (or thoroughly wash and dry your bowl) to whisk the egg white to stiff peaks, 37° C/up to 3 minutes/Speed 4. Continue whisking once you see the top go firm, as the bottom of the egg white will be softer. Use the Thermomix spatula to gently fold the whisked egg white into the blini batter, keeping as much volume as possible.
3. Heat some clarified butter or oil in a frying pan and drop in dessertspoons/tablespoons of the batter. Cook until the surface starts to bubble, then flip over and cook the other side. Serve with your Smoked Salmon Rillettes, garnished with a sprig of dill and a drizzle of lemon juice.

Here’s how I made a triple batch of Salmon Rillettes for an 8-course New Zealand Wine Tasting Dinner at Tongham Village Hall. It was a huge quantity and didn’t all hold in the Thermomix bowl so I resorted to mixing the final ingredients by hand in a big bowl. Of course, Thermomix makes cooking for large numbers fast and easy!

Clockwise from top left:

1. Steam your salmon fillets in the Varoma steamer
2. Whip the crème fraîche (I reserved it in one of my Thermomix bowls while I used another for the next steps)
3. Mix together the smoked salmon, chopped dill and butter
4. Churn with the Thermomix spatula (the only spatula you should ever use when your Thermomix is running because its shield prevents it from being chewed up in the blade)
5. The smoked salmon, dill and butter are now a chunky paste
6. Oh dear, look at all the beautiful paste that’s still in the bottom of my bowl!
7. Thermomix Tips and Tricks: Spin the blades for a couple of seconds at Speed 5 to flick all that beautiful stuff out to the sides of the bowl where you can easily remove it. No waste with Thermomix!
8. My big bowl with the steamed salmon, bones and skin removed
9. A close-up of  the final ingredients in my big bowl: flaked steamed salmon; whipped crème fraîche; smoked salmon, butter and dill paste

And here’s the finished article, plated up in aluminum barquettes with some of the 400-odd blinis I made to feed over 60 hungry wine enthusiasts!

Bon appétit !

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