Buckwheat & spelt chrain blinis

Make these salmon, buckwheat and spelt chrain blinis ahead and heat them up as a hassle-free party canapé or plated as a starter. They freeze really well, too

Ingredients

• 50g buckwheat flour
• 120g light spelt flour
• 7g fast action dried yeast
• 125ml milk
• 200g natural yogurt
• 2 medium eggs
• separated
• 1 ready-to-eat beetroot
• blended with 30g horseradish, or 2 tbsp chrain (beetroot and horseradish purée)
• 20g clarified butter
• soured cream, smoked trout, dill and salmon roe (optional), to serve

Method

1. Sift the buckwheat and spelt flours into a bowl with 1 tsp salt and scatter over the yeast. Heat the milk and yogurt very gently until tepid, then whisk in the egg yolks. Whisk this mixture into the flour mix and leave for 1 hr to ferment.
2. Whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks. Stir the beetroot and horseradish purée through the batter, then lightly fold in the egg whites. Leave for a further hour.
3. Heat the clarified butter in a non-stick frying pan, then add in dessertspoonfuls of blini mix. Fry for about 40 secs, or until they naturally come away from the pan when you shake it. They should puff up, and you’ll need to be careful when turning over as the middle might try and escape a bit – use a palette knife for this. Turn over and fry for another 20-30 secs, then transfer to kitchen paper. Continue with the rest of the mix. Leave to cool, then freeze the blinis for up to one month.
4. When your blinis are done, top with the soured cream, smoked trout, dill and salmon roe, if using, then serve.

Source: Buckwheat & spelt chrain blinis