Blinis

Image provided courtesy of thefishsociety.co.uk

Blinis are a wonderful bread that are an excellent accompaniment to all kinds of dishes - they provide a hearty and sturdy texture, whilst remaining light enough to have with lots of other dishes. They go very well with small fish and meat dishes and also provide a good vehilve for vegetarian dishes such as mushroom fricasse and stroganoff. They can also be enjoyed on their own with butter much like muffins and cumpets, and whatever else you can put with them :)

Standard batch (makes about 12-15)

Ingredients

250g of plain flour
250g of Brown flour
3 Egg yolks
3 Egg whites
600ml of Milk
30g of Yeast

Mix the two flours together
Add a pinch of salt
Warm milk and the yeast, once active add the egg yolks
Then add to the flour mix
Leave to prove for two hours in a warm place (but not too warm)
Whisk up the egg whites until stiff
Fold into the mix

Cook on a medium heat in a blini pan, turning when one side becomes solid. once cooked allow to cool, and can be reheated for further enjoyment.

Wild mushroom fricasse on blini with tarragon & parmesan shavings

This recipe is quite earthy but very hearty and enjoyable. Its just enough for a starter - any more and i think it may be too much. The use of blini provides a hearty base, the mushrooms hearty flavour and the presence of tarragon amidst the parmesan give added punch.

In the absence of blinis you are welcome to use english muffins, potato cakes or even crumpets.

Ingredients

Serves 4

4 Blinis (recipe can be found here)
250g Large Onion, finely chopped
250g of Wild Mushrooms, trimmed
250g of Button Mushrooms
100ml of White Wine
125ml of Double Cream
125ml of Dry Sherry Reduced by 2/3
10g of Chopped Tarragon
Parmesan shavings to taste

Preparation

Sauté off the onion with the mushrooms till tender, add the wine and cream and reduce till thick add the sherry and reduce till a thick coating consistence

Serve on top of warmed blini, and finish with chopped tarragon and parmesan shavings. further season with black pepper if required.

Devour.