Smoked Salmon on Corn Pancakes
This chile pepper gets its name from its origin. In Spanish, serrano is an adjective meaning “from the mountains” which is where it originated-in the mountains of Hildalgo, Mexico. The serrano is normally about twice as hot as Jalapeno (about 10,000 to 15,000 Scoville units). It is the second most popular chile pepper in Mexico. This chile is used mostly for salsas but can also be used in soups, sauces, chili or stews. Try these as a hotter substitute for Jalapeno.
Ingredients:
For the corn pancakes:
1/4-1/2 cup masa de maiz (corn masa)
1/4 cup potato starch
1 egg
1/2 tsp baking powder
3 to 4 heaping tablespoons of canned corn, juice reserved
3 Tbsp whole milk
3 Tbsp reserved corn juice (and a little more if needed)
1 finely chopped Serrano pepper
1 Tbsp melted butter
Salt
Topppings
8 oz smoked salmon
1 avocado
1/2 cup sour cream
Pico De Gallo:
1 Roma tomato, seeded and chopped small
1/2 red onion, finely diced
1 serrano pepper, seeded and finely diced
1 lime
Salt to taste
Instructions:
For the pancakes, mix together the masa, potato starch and baking powder in a small bowl. In a separate small bowl combine the wet ingredients and the peppers and corn and stir well. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, adding a few more tablespoons of corn juice or milk if you find the batter too thick. Add a pinch or two of salt and mix. It needs the salt. Also, remember that these are not “stand alone” pancakes. If I were making corn fritters or something that I wanted to highlight, I would add some sugar and perhaps some sour cream to the batter, but I didn’t want this to detract from the salmon, so it is slightly boring on purpose, but rev it up if you want to.
Drop heaping tablespoonfuls of corn batter into a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Slightly flatten the batter with the back side of a spoon (you want these little pancakes to be flat, not poufy). After about 2 minutes, check the underside of the pancakes to ensure that they are beginning to brown. When the bottoms are slightly browned, flip the pancakes and cook on the other side for another 2 minutes, or until slightly browned. Remove the pancakes to a wire rack to cool. Repeat the process for the remaining batter.
Remove the seed from the avocado and slice it into ¼” slices and then cut the slices into small chunks. Squirt the avocado pieces with a little lime juice to keep them from browning.
Finely chop one Roma tomato, one half of a red onion, and seed and finely chop Serrano pepper. Mix these together and squirt the remaining juice of one lime over them. Mix well and season with salt, to taste.
Open the smoked salmon and separate the slices into small portions.
Once the pancakes have come to room temperature, layer the toppings in the following order: pancake, dollop of sour cream, salmon, avocado chunks, pico.
That’s it! Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Or lime squeezy. Whatever. It is really tasty.
Makes about two dozen pancakes.
Recipe from themeaningofpie.com