Mini Potato Latkes and Smoked Salmon Mousse

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Mini Potato Latkes and Smoked Salmon Mousse

July 4, 2012 by Eva Taylor

Happy Independence day! We’ve just returned from our weekend with Paul and T, or I should rather say, we’ve survived another weekend with Paul and T! Great company with lots of eating and drinking and some exciting activities (tubing, believe it or not)! We thoroughly enjoyed cooking at the Lake House and I’ll recreate a few of our recipes in the coming weeks.
But for now, we’re back to reality. Now that patio season is in full swing, and the cocktails are flowing, we need a good repertoire of hors d’œuvres to serve whilst sipping our poisons. I was scrounging around the freezer and found these mini potato latkes I made a couple of months ago and thought, hmmm, what would go well with that? I was over at Norma’s wonderful blog and of course, she posted recipes from the Locust Grove’s Sunset Sensations…and there it was. It hit me like a stone (I always get it wrong!). Smoked Salmon Mousse. Thank you Norma for the inspiration. Although the recipe provided by Chef Ed of Lola’s Cafe and Crave Restaurant was a bit rich for my taste, I adapted it slightly lighter and I wanted to use up some ingredients hanging around my refrigerator this week. It’s so easy, you could do it with both hands tied behind your back…oh, my, my. 😉

Two for me and one for you!

Mini Potato Latkes and Smoked Salmon Mousse

For the mini latkes, please see Martha Stewarts recipe here (I make mine small, about 5cm in diametre and freeze them after I cook them)

Serves 2

Ingredients:

30 g smoked salmon
1/4 cup softened goats cheese
1-2 tbsp cream or milk
1 tbsp fresh dill
1 tsp fresh chives, minced
salt to taste

Directions:

Add all of the ingredients except the chives to a small food processor. Processes until smooth.
Heat latkes until crispy. Spoon about a tsp onto each latke and garnish with chives.

I always make an extra, just in case

42 Responses

on July 11, 2012 at 8:15 am | Reply fati's recipes

Ooohhh mmy! 🙂 These are so simple and easy to make, I love them 🙂 Should try them out soon 😀

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- on July 11, 2012 at 10:53 am | Reply Eva Taylor
  
  Thank you kindly, Fati.
  
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on July 6, 2012 at 10:13 pm | Reply Kristy

LOL! Oh, my, my indeed. 😉 That one wasn’t lost on me Mrs. Taylor. So glad you had a great time on your trip. I’m looking forward to your recipes. And I’m all over drinks and apps on the patio. It’s high time to embrace summer!

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- on July 7, 2012 at 6:54 am | Reply Eva Taylor
  
  Thanks Kristy. I’m almost through book three, and although it’s very harlequin romance-ish, it’s entertaining. Summer is quite warm this year, but I’m not complaining!
  
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on July 6, 2012 at 1:42 pm | Reply Jessica Maher (@kbelleicious)

love latkes and the salmon mousse sounds downright amazing and delicious. So fresh and inviting

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- on July 6, 2012 at 2:28 pm | Reply Eva Taylor
  
  Thank you kindly Jessica.
  
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on July 6, 2012 at 3:08 am | Reply Sissi

Eva, it seems that your holidays were excellent. I love your smoked salmon mousse. I am addicted to fresh goat cheese and it’s always waiting in the fridge, so all I need is buy some smoked salmon. Potato latkes is something I have never tasted (but I have seen it mentioned several times on North American blogs), but they sound really fabulous, especially with a salmon mousse.

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- on July 6, 2012 at 11:14 am | Reply Eva Taylor
  
  Thanks Sissi, the short break was lovely and it was great to spend time with our dear friends. Did you know that goats cheese freezes very well, and does not degrade when defrosted? Not all cheese is good defrosted. I would defrost in the fridge over a day or so (our fridge has excellent zones, so defrosting I usually do on the top shelf which is slightly warmer than the rest). I usually buy my goats cheese on sale and cut it into about 50-100 chunks and freeze. There is always an appi around the corner in our house.
  Yes, the potato latkes are delightful and I think it is something you would enjoy. I’ve made it with sweet potato as well, and sometimes I add a bit of celery root for extra flavour. If you skip the onion, you can even eat this sweet with a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkling of sugar
  
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  - on July 7, 2012 at 2:26 pm | Reply Sissi
    
    Thank you for the freezing tips. I sometimes freeze fresh cow cheese (curd cheese) because I’m the only fan at home, but the goat cheese disappears too quickly to be frozen 😉
    Apart from the fresh cheese and one variety of ripening goat cheese for baked dishes, we buy only raw milk cheese varieties, but these -at least in my opinion – cannot be frozen (they lose everything: consistency, smell, taste… I once made an awful experiment when we went on holidays). But the raw milk cheese “lives”… so it’s a bit like killing it 😉
    
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    - on July 10, 2012 at 11:37 am | Reply Eva Taylor
      
      Yes, that’s true, I tried freezing feta with disastrous results too. What a waste.
      
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on July 5, 2012 at 11:36 pm | Reply Corrie

My husband will eat anything with potato and I will eat anything with salmon so this is a perfect “share” dish for us! 🙂

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- on July 6, 2012 at 11:10 am | Reply Eva Taylor
  
  Thanks Corrie, it was a great little appi!
  
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on July 5, 2012 at 10:09 pm | Reply Jed Gray (sportsglutton)

I know that I’m a day late, but could we do away with the gram and cm talk on Independence Day?? 😉 Just kidding. Sound great.

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- on July 6, 2012 at 11:08 am | Reply Eva Taylor
  
  Of course, Jed, I’ll remember to do it next year! Have a great weekend.
  
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on July 5, 2012 at 7:23 pm | Reply Liz

Oh, I could certainly skip dinner and just shovel in these appetizers! What a great twist on these classic flavors!!

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- on July 6, 2012 at 11:07 am | Reply Eva Taylor
  
  Thanks Liz, with the heat we’ve been having, these little morsels would make a delightful dinner.
  
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on July 5, 2012 at 1:43 pm | Reply Sawsan@ Chef in disguise

It really hits you! when you are back to reality from vacation right?
the traffic, work, even simple house work seems like too much
I loved the caption on the picture, two for me and one for you 🙂

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- on July 5, 2012 at 3:08 pm | Reply Eva Taylor
  
  It sure is a slap. But what’s even more astounding is that it takes equally as long to prepare to be away for 4 days as it does 2 weeks. And the shock of coming back is equal too! Oh well…looking forward to my next vaycay!
  
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on July 5, 2012 at 7:37 am | Reply Karen

What a lovely nibble to have with a cocktail.

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- on July 5, 2012 at 9:08 am | Reply Eva Taylor
  
  Thank you kindly Karen. That was a lovely post about Independence Day, thanks for sharing.
  
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  - on July 5, 2012 at 9:12 am | Reply Karen
    
    I’m glad you enjoyed the post, thanks.
    
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    - on July 5, 2012 at 4:55 pm | Reply Eva Taylor
      
      🙂
      
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on July 4, 2012 at 9:15 pm | Reply Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella

What a beautiful picture you paint Eva! And this salmon mousse looks lovely and light with the goat’s cheese too. Potato latkes are one of my favourite items. I could eat dozens! 😛

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- on July 4, 2012 at 9:55 pm | Reply Eva Taylor
  
  Thank you kindly, Lorraine. My mom used to make these latkes in full size. A dollop of sour cream and a sprinkling of chives and you’re good to go!
  
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on July 4, 2012 at 6:42 pm | Reply hotlyspiced

I do love the sound of your lake house. It sounds like such a restful place. These little potato cakes look delicious Eva. I’ll have to make these. Love the blue in the photo too. I’d love to pop over for a poison or two! xx

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- on July 4, 2012 at 7:52 pm | Reply Eva Taylor
  
  Thanks Charlie, you are welcome any time!
  
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on July 4, 2012 at 4:22 pm | Reply ChgoJohn

This looks terrific, Eva, and I’m surprised how simple the mousse is to make. I bet the smoked salmon, though, delivers a great deal of flavor. And, once again, your freezer comes through for you! You really do use it to full advantage. I need to start using it, as you do, for appetizers as well as for mains.

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- on July 4, 2012 at 7:52 pm | Reply Eva Taylor
  
  Thanks John, the salmon flavour is quite powerful, and that’s why it’s not necessary to use a lot of it. Yes, I do use my freezer for appi’s. I have good intentions for making more mains, but they simply never get used. I would rather eat the left overs for lunch!
  
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on July 4, 2012 at 10:29 am | Reply A_Boleyn

Potato latkes take me back to my childhood and my mom making these little treats for us. No smoked salmon in the mix though … my mom didn’t care for fish in most forms and the smoked version would have been too much for her. A gorgeous treat for a great party giver like you to present to her guests I’m sure.

(PS: I’ll have to think about the blue tinge in the pictures though.)

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- on July 4, 2012 at 2:41 pm | Reply Eva Taylor
  
  Thank you Maria, my mom made them too, only full sized versions. They were quite tasty.
  
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on July 4, 2012 at 8:53 am | Reply Charles

Hi Eva – what a beautiful sounding dish. I love Latkes actually… I first made them when I was about 13 or so… it seemed like a very “exotic” thing back then, because of the name, even though it’s actually quite a basic ingredient list.

I saw another salmon mousse somewhere recently… I’ve been wanting to make one recently and use my piping gun for it!

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- on July 4, 2012 at 10:33 am | Reply A_Boleyn
  
  I have plans for my piping gun … which would be more quickly accomplished if we didn’t have mid 90s in the forecast (after already having more than a week of the same), 98 F for Friday and air quality alert notices from Detroit.
  
  I did use it yesterday to pipe 2 doz cream puffs for handing out to the nurses in my mom’s new residence.
  
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  - on July 4, 2012 at 2:38 pm | Reply Eva Taylor
    
    That’s so nice of you to bake things for the nurses. I did that too when my mom was in a nursing home.
    
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- on July 4, 2012 at 7:50 pm | Reply Eva Taylor
  
  Thanks Charles. 13 is indeed an early age to be in the kitchen. I think my first full meal without adult supervision was around 14. It is interesting how exotic things were when we were young. JT commented at one time that spaghetti was exotic in his household (being of British heritage).
  It was Norma at Garden to Wok who posted a salmon mousse recipe from a charity dinner she volunteered at. I felt it had too much cream for my taste and opted with goats cheese instead. It’s a bit of a tip of the hat to smoked salmon and bagels with cream cheese. If I were making the mousse for company, I surely would have brought out my big gun pipping bag, but it was just for JT and I, so I roughed it!
  
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  - on July 5, 2012 at 2:13 am | Reply Charles
    
    Ah yes, I remember now – that’s where I saw it! Mmm, makes me want to make it now!
    
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    - on July 5, 2012 at 9:08 am | Reply Eva Taylor
      
      Thanks Charles.
      
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on July 4, 2012 at 8:22 am | Reply billpeeler

They sound (and look) like they’re hearty and packed with flavor. Looks great!

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- on July 4, 2012 at 7:47 pm | Reply Eva Taylor
  
  Thank you kindly Bill.
  
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on July 4, 2012 at 6:08 am | Reply Choc Chip Uru

My my is right my friend, what a wonderful looking dish!

Cheers
Choc Chip Uru

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- on July 4, 2012 at 7:47 pm | Reply Eva Taylor
  
  Thanks CCU!
  
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on July 4, 2012 at 5:47 am | Reply Angie@Angie's Recipes

No, I want all 3! They look so delectable!

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- on July 4, 2012 at 7:46 pm | Reply Eva Taylor
  
  That is certainly very flattering, thank you Angie.
  
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