Cucumber and salmon bites

Party time: the party recipes you must have, 256pp.
by Jane Price
Murdoch Books Australia, Millers Point NSW, 2008
Cooking on page 32

This is one of many cookbooks Jane Price has compiled for the Kitchen Classis series. Titles cover cuisine, events and techniques such as Italian food, vegetarian, Christmas, dinner parties, baking, snacks and appetizers.

This is the first time I’ve ever cooked from one of the series, and I picked the book up at the local library because the page-32 looked so tempting.

Cucumber and salmon bites

Ingredients
250 g (9 oz) cream cheese or neufchâtel cheese, softened
210 g (7 1/2 oz) tinned red or pink salmon, drained
1 tablespoon sour cream
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 tablespoon finely chopped coriander leaves
1 tablespoon finely snipped chives
2 teaspoons finely chopped lemon thyme
1–2 teaspoons lemon juice
4 Lebanese (short) cucumbers, thickly sliced
dill sprigs, to garnish

Beat the cream cheese in a small bowl with electric beaters until soft and creamy. Add the salmon, sour cream, mayonnaise, coriander, chives and lemon thyme. Add the lemon juice, to taste, and season with salt and pepper. Beat for 1 minute, or until combined.

Place of teaspoon of the cheese mixture on each cucumber round and garnish with the dill.

Makes about 40.

Note: The salmon mixture can be prepared a day ahead and refrigerated in an airtight container. Slice the cucumber into rounds and assemble just before serving.

How it played out
In keeping with the cookbook’s title, I made this for a party. It wasn’t exactly a party, but it was a celebration of friendship. Pamela, a dear friend and former neighbour, was back in town for a couple of days.

So I made half a batch of these little bites to tide us over until the main attraction—my homemade lasagne, which, thanks to a recent cheese-making course, included a half a kilo of homemade mozzarella.

I used cream cheese, red salmon and my homemade mayonnaise (scroll down to the recipe). My homegrown lemon thyme has died off, so I used thyme and a little extra lemon juice.

Verdict
Quick and easy to make, and looks ever-so stylish for being something you could make with your eyes shut.

Travel
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