About this recipe
You’ll find on nearly every fine dining menu in Moscow a traditional dish of caviar, blini's and crème fraîche. So while in a city like Moscow with an abundance of caviar, I wanted to create a twist on the classic using some Australian flavours.
I created a Tasmanian ocean trout roe with wattleseed blini's and alpine pepper sour cream. The wattleseed gives a slightly nutty flavoured blini and the alpine pepper gives a light peppery burn which doesn’t over power the subtle and delicate taste of the caviar.
Caviar comes in all different varieties, but I particularly enjoy salmon roe or ocean trout roe if it’s available from the pristine waters of Tasmania. If you can’t get hold of Tasmanian salmon roe or Tasmanian ocean trout roe, then substitute with the caviar of your choice. There are some really outstanding farmed caviar available in gourmet stores and deli's these days.
Ingredients
40g premium caviar or roe
100g sour cream
3g alpine pepper
3 chive stalks
For the blinis:
125g (½ cup) plain flour
60g (¼ cup) buckwheat flour
5g (1 teaspoon) wattleseed ground
5g (1 teaspoon) baking powder
150 ml (2/3 cup) milk
2 medium eggs
30g (2 tablespoon) melted butter
Pinch of salt
macadamia nut oil
Cooking instruction
It’s best to prepare the alpine pepper sour cream the day before or at least a few hours prior to serving, as the flavour intensifies the longer it’s left. Simply mix the sour cream and the Alpine Pepper, cover and set aside and refrigerate.
For the blini's, combine in a bowl the plain flour, buckwheat flour, ground wattleseed, baking powder and salt. Add milk, eggs and butter and mix well to form a batter. If the batter is too thick, then add a little more milk, but be careful not to make the batter too thin. Cover and allow to sit for 15 minutes.
In a warm frying pan, add a little macadamia nut oil and make small bite sized Wattleseed bilinis. Fry for 2-3 minutes on each side or until cooked through and golden. Remove and set aside on kitchen paper before cooking the next batch.
If you are serving the Caviar with wattleseed blini for canapés or finger food, you might like to assemble them yourself by placing a spoonful of alpine pepper sour cream on top of the blini followed by the caviar and garnished with finely chopped chives. If you’re serving this as a starter then you can arrange on a plate separately for each person to make up.