Inspired by a tempting smell of smoked food.

Mashed potato, salmon, and spinach make a decent classical dinner plate for the fish lovers. The recipe you are about to explore has all three components, except that a dinner concept is transformed into an appetizer. The gorgeous look (forgive my pride) of the appetizer gets all the votes to be served during a fancy dinner with dear guests.

Spinach is turned into an important ingredient of the traditional French crepes.  Accompanied by potatoes, smoked salmon is rolled into the spinach crepes. Prior to being wrapped in the fish and crepes, a baked potato is mashed and whipped with ricotta and heavy cream. A few capers and fresh dill are added for an extra flavor.

Recipe serves 4-6

Ingredients

For the crepes

Spinach - 150 g (5.3 oz)
Flour, all-purpose unbleached wheat - 1 cup
Eggs, large - 2
Milk, whole - 1 cup
Salt - 1/2 teaspoon
Sugar - 1 teaspoon
Olive oil - 1 tablespoon + a bit for cooking

For the filling

Smoked salmon - 300 g (10.5 oz)
Potatoes, large - 2
Ricotta - 4 generous tablespoons
Heavy Cream - 2-4 tablespoons
Salt to taste
Capers - 1 tablespoon
Dill, sprigs - 3

Instructions

Step 1. Making and baking the crepes

Spinach crepe batter

Spinach crepes

1. Cook spinach leaves (and stems are fine too) in a pan with some olive oil until soft and shapeless (5-8 minutes). Drain some liquid from the spinach.
2. In a blender combine all ingredients for the crepes including the cooked spinach. Run the blender until you get a smooth runny batter (2-3 minutes) Add some water if the crepe batter is not liquidy enough when you pour it into the frying pan. (The batter should still be way thicker than water).
3. Heat up the frying pan and bake the crepes for approximately 1 minute on each side. Grease the pan with a few drops of oil before baking each crepe. Depending on a size of the pan and thickness of the crepes you will get 5-7 crepes.

Step 2. Preparing the filling and rolling the crepes

1. Preheat the oven to 425 F and bake the potatoes on the oven rack for approx. 50 minutes or until ready.
2. Remove the skin from the baked potatoes. Let potatoes cool down.
3. In a food processor make a potato cream by combining baked potatoes, ricotta, and heavy cream. Add some salt. The potato cream should be smooth, thick (not runny) and somewhat little on salt to your taste (remember, smoked salmon and capers will be there to balance it off). The cream will slightly thicken if placed in the fridge.
4. Rolling time! Thinly spread potato cream on the spinach crepe avoiding 1 cm (0.5 in) on the edges.
5. Evenly distribute a thinly sliced smoked salmon on top of the potato cream. Sprinkle some crushed dill.
6. Add a little “pipe” of potato cream on a side of the crepe that is to be rolled first. The “cream pipe” will be the very center of the crepe roll. Top the “pipe” with capers. Roll the crepe tightly but without squeezing the potato cream out.
   

   Make the potato creme in a food processor

   

   Top the crepe with potato creme, salmon, dill, more potato creme and capers. Roll

   

   Cut the spinach crepe
7. Fill and roll the rest of the crepes.
8. Place the rolled crepes in the fridge for at least 20-30 minutes prior to cutting into the pieces.
9. Cut off the sides of the crepe roll (about an inch) as they do not look good enough to be served (however, they are good enough to be eaten right away).
10. Cut each crepe roll into 5-6 individual pieces. Place them on a serving plate.
11. The appetizer is ready to be served! Bon Appetite!