Potato Pancakes and Smoked Salmon Canape's

Once the pancakes are made, a large tray of these can be made in minutes and make a pretty impressive presentation.

Potato Pancakes and Smoked Salmon Canape's

Makes 32 pancakes

The pancake recipe is really good because they can be made a couple of hours ahead and be crisped up in the oven last minute. You can also use them with creme fresh and smoked mackerel or a small spoonful of salmon roe.

600 gr. or 22oz.

baking potatoes

28 gr. or 1 oz.

finely sliced red onion

3 msk. or 3 tbls.

milk

small eggs or 1 1/2 large eggs

20 gr. or 3/4 oz.

cornstarch

1 tsk. or 1 teas.

salt

1/2 oil and 1/2 butter

for frying the pancakes

small container of creme fresh

5-6

thin slices of very good quality smoked salmon

Assembling the recipe:

Grate the potato and weigh it on a scale. Place the 600 gr (22 oz.) on a clean kitchen towel and squeeze out all the liquid that you can.

In a bowl mix the milk and cornstarch add the salt and the eggs, mix well and strain into a bowl large enough to hold all the potatoes.

Add the potatoes and mix (use your hands).

There should not be any real liquid in the bottom of the bowl.

Heat the oil and butter in a heavy bottoms frying pan, I use my cast iron pancake pan.

Using a tablespoon place a small amount of the mixture into the hot oil and butter. Spread the mixture out using the edge of the spoon to make a very thin pancake about 4 cm round (or 2 inches).

Fry these for about 5 minutes on each side. Remove to a plate lined with paper towels to drain for a minute of two then place on a baking sheet lined with a little aluminum foil.

These can sit for up to 2 hours covered with a little baking paper.

When ready to assemble, heat the oven to 200°C or (375°F). Place the baking tray in the oven for about 3 minutes to crisp up.

Place each pancake on a serving tray and with a small spoon top with a small drop of creme fresh, snip with a pair of scissors small pieces of the smoked salmon and decorate with a little more red onion.

Notes:

Serving canapes can be a real pain, what is good about these is once the pancakes are made, assembling them only takes a couple of minutes. You can get crispy pancakes every time, by using the butter and the cornstarch instead of plain oil and flour like most recipes call for. The butter and cornstarch help to crisp up the pancakes when you need them for serving.

The pancakes need to be really thin if you want to get them nice and crispy. I used the edge of my spoon as I put them into the pan to spread them out a bit.

You can use chives or spring onions (grass lök eller vår lök) instead of red onion for the pancakes and decoration.

Be patient and be sure that the butter and oil are hot. Be careful that it does not get so hot that the butter burns. I also used a timer when I fried them and it took 5 minutes per side with the large burner of my electric stove set on number 3.

After frying the second batch too much liquid formed in the bottom of bowl, so I put the rest of it into a strainer to get rid of it. (the potatoes were giving off more liquid)

I had to change the oil and butter after 2 batches because it was getting too dark and you want the pancakes cooked but still golden brown in color.

I experimented last night with these to see how long they will sit on a baking tray before I put them in the oven. I had them sitting in the kitchen on the baking tray for 2 hours, only covered with a piece of baking paper. They came back really nicely and were buttery and crispy.

You do have to be careful when cooking pancakes with any kind of onions in them. If they get too dark your pancakes can take a burnt onion taste which is really pretty bad. So keep an eye on them in the pan and in the oven. I made this recipe for the pancakes myself and don't think that it would be good for larger pancakes, for that you will need a more traditional recipe that contains flour.

I read my e-mail everyday but Sat. & Sun. E-mail me if you need help with this recipe.

Mail to Bill at bill.rubino@gmail.com