Chessa and I were invited to do a cooking class for some friends (Dana Fallentine and Britney Gharring) down in San Diego focusing on brunch items. I love smoked salmon and we had just done these Thomas Keller Yukon Gold Blinis and I thought that they would go perfect together. I wanted a little action on the plate so we placed the blini over a sprinkling of chopped egg white, egg yolk, capers and shallots. I also ran a line of parsley oil across the plate for a little bright green color on the plate. (Ideally this would have been dill oil, but I had parsley oil on hand and decided that it would work just fine). Most women that I know (including Chessa) aren't big fans of smoked salmon, but I love it. I think that this would make a perfect breakfast on Sunday morning.

Yukon Gold Blini (Thomas Keller Recipe)
1 pound Yukon Gold Potatoes
2 Tbs all-purpose flour
2-3 tablespoons crème fraiche, at room temperature
2 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
Kosher salt

Place potatoes in a saucepan with cold water to cover by at least 2 inches. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat and simmer until the potatoes are thoroughly cooked and tender.

Peel the warm potatoes and then press through a potato ricer. Pass them through a fine mesh sieve. Immediately weight out 9 ozs of the pureed potatoes and place them in a medium metal bowl. Working quickly, whisk the flour into the warm potatoes, then whisk in the 2 tablespoons crème fraiche. Add 1 egg, whisking until the batter is smooth, add the second egg, and then add the yolk.

Hold the whisk with some of the batter over the bowl. The batter should fall in a thick stream but hold its shape when it hits the batter in the bowl. If it is too thick, add a little more crème fraiche. Season to taste with salt.

Heat a griddle over medium heat. Spoon between 1 and ½ teaspoons of batter onto the griddle and cook until the bottoms are browned, 1 to 2 minutes. Then flip them can cook the second side for about a minute. The blini should be evenly browned with a small ring of white around the edges. Transfer the blini to a small banking sheet and keep warm while you make the remaining blini, wiping the griddle with a paper towel between batches.

To Complete
Hard boil two fresh eggs by placing eggs in medium sauce pan covered by 2 inches of cold water over medium-high heat. As soon as the water is at a simmer, turn the burners off and let the eggs sit for 10 minutes. This will gently cook the eggs and make for perfect yellow yolks. When done, place eggs under cool running water to peel. cut the eggs in half and separate the egg whites from the yolks. Chop each separately.

Sprinkle a line of chopped egg whites in the center of a large plate. Top with a sprinkling of egg yolks, then chopped capers and finely diced shallots. Top with two warm blini and 2-3 ozs of sliced Alaskan Smoked Salmon. Mix a few table spoons of creme fraiche with about two table spoons of finely chopped dill. Place 1/2 tsp of the dill creme fraiche on the smoked salmon and top with a sprig of dill and you're done.... These potato pancakes go great with the salmon. They're very good on their own as well...