Smoked Salmon, a cool dinner on a hot evening

A fact…you can feed your family a meal of smoked salmon with all of the trimmings for less than it costs to go to Subway.

It is too hot to keep the oven on long. It is too hot to write too much. So, this is your easy and beautiful cool dinner for this week. Don’t save it just for dinner, either. This is such an easy thing to set out for guests. And, it is delicious.

Preparation:

For the salmon:
8 ounces of smoked salmon
1 white onion, minced
2 Tablespoons capers
1 lemon, sliced and quartered
Crackers, toast points, or garlic toast (pictured)
Crème fraiche or sour cream thinned with milk
Optional: hard boiled egg, chopped fine

For the toast:
1 French baguette, sliced thin
1 garlic clove, sliced in half
several Tablespoons of soft butter

To make the toast, heat the broiler on the oven. Thinly slice a baguette. Rub each piece of bread with the cut side of a garlic clove. Brush each piece with butter. Place the slices on a baking sheet and place the baking sheet under the broiler until they are lightly golden. Flip over the slices of bread and let them toast just a bit on the other side, as well. Remove the bread from the oven and allow it to cool.

This is all you need. Separate the salmon, which is generally pre-sliced. Arrange the salmon and the toppings on a platter and enjoy. Each guest should place a few slices of salmon on a toast and squeeze a bit of lemon on the salmon. The crème fraiche is basically involved to keep the capers from rolling all over hell and damnation (your nice rugs and pretty upholstered chairs). At least that is my understanding. So if you like capers, place a tiny dollop of crème fraiche on the salmon first.

Notes:

This salmon is the Whole Foods house brand and is MSC certified. I haven’t fully wrapped my brain around the MSC thing. I think it is positive that there is a system for encouraging healthy fisheries and building good standards for harvesting fish. I do not believe, however, the lack of the certification necessarily implies that a producer is not up to par. The presence of it merely provides extra assurances. Don’t abandon your favorite brand because it is lacking the certification if you are otherwise confident in the producer.I’m keeping my eye on this issue. I think it is fascinating. Feel free to weigh in on the matter if you are in the know. I’d love to hear your opinion.

Carr’s water crackers are a great substitute if you don’t want to turn on the oven at all. I won’t tell.