Cooking with Cedar Kitchenette: Smoked Salmon on a Potato Pancake came about when a mutual friend introduced me to a fellow Philly blogger Laura of Cedar Kitchenette. She’s an accomplished baker and still in high school- so cool. We decided to meet up, make brunch and talk tricks of the trade. Laura let me pick the menu and I decided on this lovely brunch pizza of sorts based on a Martha Stewart recipe: Smoked Salmon on a Potato Pancake. We were both really happy with how it came out, and so were our guests. It’s always hard to take great pictures when you’re distracted and hosting guests, so of course I made it again the next day to get me perfect shots. It wasn’t exactly torture to eat it again the next day and I still had all of the ingredients around. This gave me the perfect opportunity to perfect my technique. Since I no longer had guests, I made a small 8-inch serving just for me and I have to admit the smaller size was much easier to maneuver if less impressive. You could easily make a few of the potato pancakes ahead of time and rewarm when guests arrive and then assemble and serve. I’ll give you the quantities for the large, but you might want to start out with three 8-inchers the first time you make this lovely Smoked Salmon on a Potato Pancake for brunch.
- 6 tablespoons ghee or clarified butter*
- 2 medium russet potatoes; scrubbed and dried
- ¼ teaspoon coarse salt
- freshly ground pepper
- 5(ish) ounces sliced smoked salmon
- ¼ cup mascarpone (or cream cheese)
- ¼ cup crème fraîche (or sour cream)
- 1-2 tablespoons finely chopped dill
- zest of one lemon
- chopped fresh chives to garnish
- Preheat oven to 400° F. Slice potatoes very thinly (⅛ inch or thinner). This is easiest with a food processor or mandolin, but you can certainly do it by hand. Pat slices dry so they crisp on the outside. Heat a large (I used a 12-inch) ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 tablespoons clarified butter; swirl to coat. Arrange some potatoes in concentric circles.
- Season with ¼ teaspoon salt and some freshly ground pepper to coat.
- Repeat with remaining potatoes to form 2 more layers. Pour 3 tablespoons clarified butter down sides of skillet to seep under potatoes. At this point, you want to weigh down the potatoes to encourage them to bind together. The first time we disregarded this step and just covered with a regular lid, and while everything worked out, it did make the pancake harder to work with. The second time, I set a piece of buttered parchment paper over the potatoes and set a regular pot lid that was the same diameter as the pancake on top and weighted it down with whatever was lying around. Reduce heat to medium or medium low. Cook until underside is golden and crisp, 5 to 7 minutes more. Flip potatoes (if you went small, this is no big deal. If you went big, you may need to employ 2 spatulas or get creative with your utensils. Also, as you can see in the photo, it cooked a little unevenly, the weight helps with this as well).
- Weight back down. Cook until potatoes start to brown, about 4 minutes. Remove weights and expose to air. Bake until underside is crisp, 7 to 9 minutes. While that’s cooking, whisk the mascarpone, crème fraîche, lemon zest, and dill until it’s light and fluffy.
- Set aside. Let pancake cool for 10 minutes. If you want to let some butter drain off, and keep maximally crisp, use a wire cooling rack, or let it cool in the pan. Set on serving plate. So gorgeous!
- Spread the seasoned cream mixture over the potato pancake. Top with salmon. Sprinkle with chives. Cut into wedges (a pizza cutter worked well here).
Cedar Kitchenette photo credit on this one. - Serve immediately while the cream is a little melty.
Not a great photo, but Laura, of Cedar Kitchenette and me.
