Smoked Salmon Blini
Delicate buckwheat pancakes topped with crème fraîche and silky smoked salmon
- 0.5 cupall-purpose flour
- 0.5 cupbuckwheat flour
- 1 tspbaking powder
- 0.5 tspkosher salt
- 1egg
- 0.75 cupmilk
- 2 tbspbutter(melted, plus more for pan)
- 8 ozsmoked salmon(sliced)
- 0.5 cupcrème fraîche
- 2 tbspfresh dill(fronds)
- 2 tbspcapers(drained)
- freshly ground black pepper
Blini can be made 2 days ahead. Store in airtight container. Bring to room temperature before topping.
- 1Whisk both flours, baking powder, and salt in bowl
- 2In separate bowl, whisk egg, milk, and melted butter
- 3Add wet ingredients to dry and stir just until combined - lumps are okay
- 4Let batter rest 10 minutes
- 5Heat buttered griddle or skillet over medium heat
- 6Drop batter by tablespoons to form small pancakes about 2 inches diameter
- 7Cook until bubbles form and edges set, flip and cook until golden
- 8Let blini cool slightly
- 9Top each with small dollop of crème fraîche
- 10Add folded piece of smoked salmon
- 11Garnish with dill frond and a few capers
- 12Finish with freshly ground pepper
Buckwheat flour gives blini their distinctive earthy flavor - don't substitute entirely with regular flour. Small, thin blini work best as canapés. The batter should be pourable but not runny. Crème fraîche is tangier than sour cream; Greek yogurt works in a pinch. Assemble just before serving.
Blini are among Russia's most ancient foods, rooted in pre-Christian Slavic rituals that predate the country's adoption of Orthodox Christianity in 988 CE. Their round, golden form was understood by early East Slavic peoples as a symbol of the sun — a prayer for warmth and the return of spring after harsh winters. National Geographic confirms blini are the centerpiece of Maslenitsa, the Eastern Slavic festival celebrated during the last week before Orthodox Lent, known in English as Butter Week or Pancake Week. The name Maslenitsa comes from maslo, the Russian word for butter, reflecting the week's tradition of eating rich foods before the Lenten fast. Traditional blini are made with a yeasted buckwheat batter allowed to rise slowly before cooking, giving them a characteristic earthy nuttiness and slight tang. Smoked salmon became the pairing of choice in Russia's aristocratic zakuski tradition — the elaborate table of cold appetizers served before a formal meal — where blini with smetana (sour cream) and smoked or cured fish were the centerpiece of pre-Revolutionary luxury hospitality. Russian émigrés who fled after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution carried this combination to Paris and New York, where it entered the international repertoire of elegant entertaining. This simplified version substitutes baking powder for yeast while maintaining the buckwheat character that defines authentic blini.