Chef Bob Blumer Serves Up Fun Salmon Treats
Culinary adventurer, chef, cookbook author and seven time Guinness World Record holder Bob Blumer returns to the Camping World/Good Sam Rally this year to transform ordinary ingredients into wow-inspiring dishes. Look for Blumer June 13, 14 and 15 in our demo kitchen at Syracuse’s Empire Expo Center. In the meantime, here’s the Surreal Gourmet’s inspired recipe for savory salmon.
Salmon Cupcakes
Cupcakes are back! And these days they come in every shape, size and flavor. I decided to go one step beyond and create a savory fish cupcake frosted with mashed potatoes.
• 3 medium russet potatoes, peeled and quartered
• 1 cup stemmed fresh dill, diced finely
• 1 1/4 cup heavy cream, at room temperature
• 4 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
• Salt and pepper
• 2 eggs
• 1 pound skinless salmon, roughly cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 3 green onions, finely sliced
• 1/4 cup red bell pepper, finely chopped
•1 1/4 cup bread crumbs or panko
• 2 tablespoons sour cream
• Zest of 1 lemon plus 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 1/4 cup finely chopped Italian parsley leaves
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeds discarded, minced
• vegetable oil spray
• 8 cupcake liners
• muffin tin
Icing
Steam potatoes over boiling water until tender to the poke of a fork. Use a ricer, food mill or standard issue fork to mash the potatoes. In a medium glass or metal bowl, blend the potatoes with cream and butter, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Reserve.
Cupcakes
To a food processor, add egg, salmon, green onion, bell pepper, breadcrumbs, sour cream, lemon zest and juice, parsley, garlic, jalapeno, 1 1/2 teaspoon salt and 114 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper. Pulse four or five times, or until coarsely chopped and well blended. If you don’t have a food processor, chop ingredients finer than indicated and blend in a bowl. Reserve.
Finish and Serve
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a muffin tin with eight paper liners. Generously grease interior of liners with oil spray. Spoon the salmon mixture into liners. Gently press salmon level with the top of the tin.
Just before putting the cupcakes in the oven, reheat the potatoes by covering the bowl with aluminum foil and placing it over a pot of boiling water for five to 10 minutes. When the potatoes are steaming hot, add dill. Blend thoroughly with a fork.
Bake cupcakes for eight minutes, or until cakes are fully set yet still moist. Remove from tin immediately so they don’t continue to cook.
Use a piping bag with a star tip, or a table knife to ice the cupcakes.
• Yields eight servings
Advance Work The fish mixture can be prepared earlier in the day, or even the day before, to the point that the cakes are ready to be baked. Bake and ice just before serving. Mashed potatoes can be made earlier in the day then reheated over a double boiler just before serving (add dill after reheating).
