March 1st, 2014

Recipe du Jour: Smoked Salmon and Cucumber Crostinis

It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted a recipe! This is what I served the other night when I had my relatives over for dinner at my apartment.

It was a weeknight, so I was coming directly from work to prepare a three-course meal. Needless to say, I needed a recipe idea that was simple and quick enough for me to handle.

Fancy-looking hors d’oeuvres are a great way to make a dinner seem more impressive than it really is. I made a simple pasta recipe for the main course, but these little smoked salmon and cucumber crostinis were a big hit!

As with all my recipes, this one is dead simple. You need zero skills in the kitchen to pull this off – it just looks complicated! Here’s what you’ll need.

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For the spread:

  • Greek yogurt
  • Herb and garlic cream cheese
  • Lemon
  • Fresh chives
  • Black pepper

For the rest::

  • Mini baguette crisps
  • English cucumber
  • Smoked salmon

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In a bowl, combine the Greek yogurt and herb & garlic cream cheese. Go for about a 3:1 yogurt to cream cheese ratio. So: one big spoonful of cream cheese, and three of Greek yogurt.

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Stir those together until they’re well blended.

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Add a few squeezes of lemon juice. I personally like quite a bit of lemon, because I think citrus pairs with fish so well. But do it to your taste!

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A few grinds of black pepper…

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And sprinkle in some finely chopped fresh chives.

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Stir that all together again, and either continue making this recipe or set the spread aside overnight in preparation for the next day. (That’s what I did, to save me time on the night of.)

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Now, if you’re a pro in the kitchen you can toast these yourself in the oven with a smearing of olive oil. I’m not that skilled and was pressed for time so I took a shortcut with these yummy Ace Bakery olive oil and sea salt mini baguette crisps.

You don’t have to use this particular brand, any little toasts will do!

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Lay them out on a platter…

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…and spoon a dollup of the spread on each one.

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Like so.

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Slice your English cucumber into half circles and lay one on each hors d’oeuvre.

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Ta da!

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Then slice up your smoked salmon, and lay one folded piece on each mini baguette.

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They’re essentially done at this point, now just for the garnish.

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Pop a tiny bit more of the spread on each one…

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…and sprinkle some fresh chives over top.

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Don’t they look fancy?

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Serve them up right away and wow your guests with these bite-sized bits of heaven.

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In the words of Julia Child, “Bon appétit!” xx

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