Smoked Salmon Tart for a Crowd

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Smoked Salmon Tart for a Crowd

salmon tart

Smoked Salmon Tart for a Crowd

By David Tanis

Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Serving: 4 tarts, each serving 2 to 4 people

David Tanis writes the weekly City Kitchen column for The New York Times. His long cooking career included years at Alice Waters' Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California.

Ingredients

Wild Smoked Salmon & Nova Lox

Sockeye and King

2 cups/310 grams all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
Kosher salt
4 ounces/1 stick/120 grams unsalted butter, cold and cut in half-inch chunks
2 egg yolks, beaten with enough ice water to make 1/2 cup
8 ounces/1 cup/240 milliliters crème fraîche
3 tablespoons freshly grated horseradish, or more to taste
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Zest of 1 lemon
Coarsely ground black pepper
1 small sweet onion, very thinly sliced
1 teaspoon organic extra virgin olive oil
¼ pound/4 ounces/125 grams sliced smoked salmon
2 ounces/60 grams wild salmon caviar (optional)
1 tablespoon snipped chives
1 teaspoon roughly chopped tarragon, or torn leaves

Directions

Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Yield: 4 tarts, each serving 2 to 4 people

Make the Pastry

Put flour, baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse briefly, then add butter all at once and whir until mixture resembles wet sand.
Add egg and continue just until dough comes together. (Alternatively, cut butter into dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix by hand.)
Knead dough lightly on counter-top, then divide into four pieces and form each into a ball. Wrap with plastic film and flatten to 1-inch-thick disks. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Make the Horseradish Cream

Mix together crème fraîche, horseradish, mustard and lemon zest. Season generously with salt and pepper, then keep cool. (If cream firms upon standing, beat with a fork.)
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Put onion in a small bowl and season with salt and pepper. Add olive oil and mix to coat. Roll out each piece of dough to an 8-inch-diameter circle. Place the pastry disks on parchment-lined baking sheets. Sprinkle onion slices over each round.
Bake tart rounds for 6 to 7 minutes, until pastry is lightly browned and puffed, and onions are starting to brown. (Turn pans halfway through for even browning.) Let cool for a minute or two.

Assemble the Tart

Put pastry on a cutting board. Cut into 6 or 8 wedges.
Spoon some horseradish cream onto each wedge. Tear salmon slices into wide ribbons and lay them over the cream. (Use 1 ounce salmon per tart.)
Top each wedge with a tiny spoonful of roe, if using, and sprinkle with chives and tarragon. Serve directly from the board.

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