To prepare your own home banquet, start by making blinis from scratch—remembering to enjoy the process, which gives you 45 minutes for
preparation and 25 minutes cooking time to salivate as you look forward to the completed feast.
Blini Ingredients (organic preferred when possible):
• 1 packet ‘quick’-type active dry yeast
• ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons warm (105 to 115 degrees F.) water
• 1-tablespoon honey
• ¾ cup buckwheat flour
• ¼ cup all-purpose white flour—preferably unbleached
• ¼ cup instant non-fat dry milk powder
• 2 tablespoons commercial sour cream or plain yogurt
• 1 and ½ tablespoons butter—melted and cooled
• 2 large eggs—separated
• Pinch of salt
• Butter—just enough pads to spread over griddle or cast iron or stainless steel skillet for non-stick, low heat cooking of blinis
Preparation:
In a medium-sized bowl, combine the yeast, water and honey. Let the mixture rest for about 5 minutes or until it is foamy. Stir in the flours, milk powder sour cream or yogurt, melted butter and egg yolks. Cover the bowl with a wet and wrung out kitchen towel and let the batter rest for 30 minutes. It will not rise very much but will form bubbles on the surface.
In a separate, clean bowl, beat the egg whites with the salt just until they form stiff peaks—but do not overbeat them, or they may be difficult to fold. Gently, but thoroughly, fold the beaten whites into the batter.
Preheat a griddle or large skillet over medium- or low-heat and grease lightly with the butter. Spoon 1 and ½ to 2-tablespoon measures of the batter onto the preheated griddle or skillet. When bubbles have formed on the surface of these mini-pancakes and the bottoms are browned, turn them once and cook just until lightly browned on the other side.
Yield: About 30 blinis of two to two-and-a-half inch sizes.
Serve as a Platform for the Caviar, with such optional additions to taste as…
• Sour cream or plain, low-fat yogurt
• Thinly sliced red or sweet onion
• Chopped hardboiled eggs
• Fresh dill sprigs
• Small, attractively arranged slices of smoked salmon
• Lemon wedges
More about Caviar