Saturday 23 July 2022

Potatoes, Salmon, And Salmon Roe Cream

This is meant to be potatoes and trout, but the shops were singularly lacking in anything trout-y!  Well, apart from the cold-smoked trout I managed to find.  So salmon it was!  Speaking of salmon - reminds me of the salmon ladder in Scotland we saw years ago.  All those fish desperately trying to get to their original spawning grounds.  I have to say there's nothing better than Scottish smoked salmon - soft, luscious, melt in your mouth, the best!  


the salmon ladder Pitlochry (Wikimedia Commons, Jonathan Billinger)


And speaking of Scotland, did I ever mention that we saw Lady Di (as was) being driven past in a black limo as we tried to get those pink Scottish pound notes from an ATM?  It was a Bank Holiday in England, so we headed over the border to get some much-needed cash.  Back in the day, when you needed traveller's cheques, or you could start a bank account in a Building Society (we weren't UK residents so that was our only option).  

And that reminds me of the time in Budapest - or was it Belgrade?  nah, it was Budapest - when a young lad sidled up to us offering ... lime-green chilli peppers!  Every restaurant and café chucked one on your dinner plate.  We were also offered black market cash by another fella, so you just never know what's on offer.  Oh yes, Mr P. was offered a daytime visit to a brothel when we were in Athens! 

Back to this dish: this recipe is from The Atlas Cookbook by Charlie Carrington, an Aussie chef.  (Never heard of him, folks.)  After having a quick flick through some of his recipes, I have to say they're a bit lacking in detail.  For instance, with this one, he never tells you what to do with your boiled potatoes (or the garlic).  I guess his spuds are forever sitting in a saucepan of tepid water ...    


creamy, eggy, fishy ...


Serves 4-6:

ingredients:

about 1 kg/2.2 lb waxy potatoes = around 6 regular-sized potatoes, cut into large chunks

1-2 cloves of garlic

1 tsp cracked black pepper

4 large eggs

200g./7 oz hot-smoked salmon (or trout if you can find it), pulled into chunks with a fork

a few Tbs (a big handful) of chopped parsley, chives, dill or your choice of herbs for garnish

cracked black pepper, to scatter over the dish


For the Salmon Roe Cream:

80g./2.8 oz salmon (or trout) roe

1/2-1 tsp sea salt flakes

100g./3.5 oz sour cream (I used sour light cream)

juice of 2 lemons (about 100 mL/3.5 oz)


Method:

Place the potatoes in a large saucepan with the garlic and black pepper, cover with lots of cold water, bring to the boil, and let them boil gently till the potatoes are tender - around 20 minutes

Drain and leave aside (pull off the loose skin if you feel inclined)

You will have boiled the eggs for about 8 minutes while the potatoes did their thing; run them under the tap, and peel 'em

Now grab your potato masher, and give those cooked eggs a good seeing-to, so you end up with a lovely coarse, eggy mash

Put the roe, the salt, the sour cream and lemon juice in a medium bowl, and give it a good stir (but not too fiercely; you don't want to break up the roe)

Grab a nice platter or bowl, spoon over the roe cream, then place the potatoes, the squeezed-out garlic clove(s), the mashed egg, and the fishy chunks on top

Garnish with the herbs, and extra black pepper if using

Serve with a green salad, or some edamame as I did; or add some radish slices for a bit of crunch


Notes:

Buy waxy potatoes - ones that are good for baking rather than for mash - I used Red Royales since I couldn't get the kipflers that Charlie suggests

I only had 50g./1.8 oz of roe (those jars are expensive), so I added 30g. (a big ounce) of chopped, cold-smoked trout

I also only had 150g. of the hot-smoked salmon, so I added 50g. of the cold-smoked trout that I'd been able to find

2 lemons will give you about 100 mL/3.5 oz of juice

Mr P. did suggest this would go down well in summer, rather than in the cold Brissie winter we are having this year!



ingredients gathered (a là Harry Potter)

chop your tatties into chunks

mash those eggy babies!

stir your fishy roe cream together - gently but firmly :-)

here comes dinner

hoe in!



moi and our friend Ms J. inside Tintern Abbey


Mr P., moi and Ms K. at The Temple of Poseidon, Cape Sounion - so young!



© Sherry M.


44 comments:

  1. It's Judee from gluten-free A-Z . It will only allow me to post anonymously today. Anyway great recipe even with the salmon and love all your stories that go with it!

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    1. hi judee. Blogger is such a pain with comments. Sorry!

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  2. Oh my. I love potatoes and salmon or trout. Such a fabulous combination.

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  3. Sounds like a great combination of foods with lots of texture and taste. I like your historic vacation photos.

    best... mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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  4. I love all the ingredients here Sherry, and yes Scottish hot smoked salmon is the best. The photos aren't loading atm for some reason, so I'll save that inspiration for later. I could happily tuck into this dish right now, even if it is Winter. Best, Pauline

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  5. Yay, photos just loaded, food looks fabulous, edamame are always delicious, and love the blast from the past photos.

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    1. yay! yes it's fun to look at old photos. how young we were.

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  6. Those good old fun times! That looks like one of the best creamy fishy dinners! I would love mine with dill though.

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    1. yep old fun times indeed angie. yes dill is a great idea.

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  7. Unfortunately my travels never reached Scotland - would have loved to see a salmon ladder working . . . but think your salmon dish most appetizing and love the roe cream. Now my pocketbook may be on the slim side these days, but there are ways and means. I splurge almost every month on the 'bits and pieces' packets of Tassie smoked salmon . . . quite uneven in shape and size, but thicker than the sliced variety, juicy and over a third down in price . . . would work well here methinks . . . AND, you may be having more yucksville rain but here in the Southern Highlands it is COLD !!!

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    1. i'd love to visit scotland again. i bet it's cold down your way!

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  8. Your vacation pictures are great! And this recipe looks to be quite good. A lot of chefs just can't write cookbooks -- they forget that what is obvious to them (doesn't everyone know what to do with the potatoes?!) mystifies their readers. Good stuff -- thanks.

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    1. thanks KR. they were fun times! Yes I keep finding that cookbooks are not very well written.

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  9. Your blog post made me laugh! Weird things always happen when you travel. We saw a salmon ladder in Alaska! It was fascinating. I used to live in the Washington DC area and could get anything I wanted, including beautiful salmon roe. Now I live on the west coast of Florida, and I can't get anything here. It's so frustrating! But I will try to get as close as I can to your recipe. It sounds divine! Thank you.

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    1. oh yes very weird indeed. the salmon are soooo intent on getting where they need to be. it's amazing. Hope you enjoy this.

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  10. Please count me in for this one, Sherry - and I have an idea what to do with the garlic! (hahahahahahaha) I can't wait to try this - it really does sound phenomenal.

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    1. thanks david. yep i just squeezed that garlic onto my potatoes.

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  11. Love this recipe Sherry 😋 and pics of a time gone by - fabulous memories xxx

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  12. haha - I read the title as salmon roe ice cream - not sure where my head was at! We have seen salmon ladders in France. And yes, the best smoked salmon does come from Scotland. We had smoked trout with breakfast yesterday and the roe cream would have been the perfect topping.

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    1. now that would be interesting! salmon roe ice cream --- mmm

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  13. Wow, saw princess Di passing in her limousine -nice. I have never seen a salmon ladder either. Enjoyed the post and the recipe.

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  14. Your Lady Di sighting is fun -- and I just love salmon! Fabulous!

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  15. Wow, those travel stories are fun, Sherry! We almost ran into Prince Charles in Scotland when we tried to visit a distillery. (Turns out the entire place was shut down to guests since he was there...and we couldn't get in.) I really liked this post - and that recipe does sound tasty! But you're right about Scottish smoked salmon...it's truly amazing!!

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    1. hi david, what a pity you didn't get to meet the Prince :)

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  16. Food looks good and delicious but we rarely eat salmon. I love potatoes.

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    1. i loooove salmon but i try not to cook it much as it's not a sustainable fish. yes to potatoes!

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  17. Hi Sherry -- I'm leaving the US, and might be out of internet contact starting Saturday night. My IMK post will show up on our Sunday morning which is a few hours before your IMK post usually appears. If you don't mind, could you link my post to IMK because I may not be able to? (You don't have to publish this comment).

    Thanks... mae

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    1. no worries Mae. Will check it out on Monday (1 Aug.) have fun!!

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  18. Yum. Regine
    www.rsrue.blogspot.com

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  19. Yum! I've never had salmon roe cream before!

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  20. You should write a book about your travel tales - so many interesting adventures! I think this dish would be comforting whatever the season!

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  21. I've visited that salmon dam in Pitlochry several times. It's fascinating. And if you're at the right season of the year and right time sometimes you might see one of the salmon (I haven't yet!) Still I am biased as a Scottish person and agree that Scottish Salmon is just the best!!

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    1. isn't it fascinating neil? those salmon are so determined to get back to their old spawning grounds. Like the eels in the Sargasso Sea! Yep best salmon.

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