Smoked Salmon Tartine
The smoked salmon tartine is a culinary descendant of the “lox and a schmear,” the iconic American Jewish classic consisting of a bagel spread with cream cheese and topped with cured salmon. The lox bagel was born in New York City in the early 1900s, as the growing availability of cured and smoked salmon [1] from the Pacific Northwest and Nova Scotia brought the ingredient within reach of the growing second-generation Jewish-American middle class. [2] This West Coast take on a New York classic balances the smoky richness of the salmon with fresh dill, pickled red onions, salted pickled lemon peel, all atop a slice of sourdough.
Ingredients
1 lb cold-smoked salmon
8 slices sourdough bread
1 cup cream cheese
1 cup pickled red onions
1 large lemon
1 bunch fresh dill
1 tsp salt
Black pepper to taste
Let us begin with the two pickles—pickled red onion and pickled lemon peel. Both onion and citrus are common pairings for salmon, as the sharpness of onion and the bright acidity of citrus both help cut the richness of the fish. However, as smoked salmon is generally used in small amounts, using either raw red onion or fresh lemon zest has a tendency to overpower the flavor of the fish. Pickling mellows both the sharp bite of the onion and the fresh acidity of the lemon, resulting in more subtle flavors which better complement the smoked salmon. To make the pickled red onions, follow the recipe here.
Now for the lemon peel. As we will be eating the skin of the fruit, use an organic lemon for this dish if possible. Using a vegetable peeler, remove the skin of the lemon. We want only the yellow zest—be careful to leave behind the white pith, which is very bitter. Slice the peel into thin strips, about an eighth of an inch wide. Place the peel into a small bowl. Lemons are a breeze to pickle because they come with their own acid! Squeeze about half of the lemon’s juice into the bowl, and add 1 tsp salt. Mix well, and add water if necessary to cover the lemon peels. The onions and lemons should be set aside to soak for at least 30 minutes in their respective pickling solutions before using. Both pickles can be made a day or more in advance, and held in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Using either a toaster, the oven, or a pan with some butter, lightly toast the slices of bread. We are looking for a slightly crisp, golden brown surface, but a tender interior. If you are serving this as an appetizer, you can go with smaller pieces of bread. Alternatively, you can slice up the completed tartines into smaller pieces (triangles taste better!).
Now we come to (open-faced) sandwich assembly. This isn’t as simple as throwing all the ingredients on top of the toasted bread. Success depends upon balancing a whole series of strong flavors: the salt and smoke from the fish, sweet and sour from the pickled onions, bright and sour from the pickled lemon peel, spice from the black pepper, and fresh from the dill.
Working with so many powerful flavors is like trying to maintain an unstable equilibrium—just a bit too much of any ingredient will push us far away from the desired balance. The goal of all of these extra ingredients is to complement the salmon, not overpower it. The cream cheese helps to stabilize this system—its mild flavor and creamy texture helps to bind the other flavors together—so be generous with it! Spread the cream cheese in a thick, uniform layer onto each piece of toast. Season the cream cheese with freshly ground black pepper and some fresh dill leaves. Dill’s distinct flavor can overpower this dish if overused, so limit yourself to no more than 5-6 leaves of dill in this layer.
Add the smoked salmon in a single layer on the toast, and top the salmon with the pickled red onion, pickled lemon peel, and a few more fresh dill leaves. You want just enough of each pickle to get a bit of both in every bite, but no more. Once the tartine is assembled, serve immediately. The toast should still be warm and crisp.
Substitutions
You can substitute most forms of cured or smoked salmon, including lox, gravlax, and hot-smoked salmon. Smoked steelhead trout is also a great substitute. Goat cheese or crème fraiche are good substitutes for the cream cheese, but stay away from low-fat cream cheese for this application. Other possible toppings include fried capers (a very traditional accompaniment to smoked salmon) and fresh chives.
[1] Strictly speaking, lox is salmon which has been cured in a brine, while cold-smoked salmon has been both brined and smoked. However, the terms are now often used interchangeably. Particularly as Nova Scotia-style smoked salmon is often (and confusingly) referred to as “Nova lox.” A linguistic aside: the word “lox” is likely to have referred specifically to salmon in the Indo-European language family for at least 8,000 years.
[2] For a fascinating exploration of the history of the bagel in America, I recommend this episode of the podcast Gastropod.
Recipe
Prep Time: 10 min Cook Time: 5 min Total Time: 45 min
(+30 min inactive)
Difficulty: 1/5
Heat Sources: toaster or 1 burner
Equipment: vegetable peeler
Servings: 8
Ingredients
1 lb cold-smoked salmon
8 slices sourdough bread
1 cup cream cheese
1 cup pickled red onions
1 large lemon
1 bunch fresh dill
1 tsp salt
Black pepper to taste
Instructions
1. Wash the lemon and remove the peel, being careful to leave behind the white pith. Slice the peel into thin strips, and combine with 1 tsp salt and the juice of the lemon. Mix well and set aside for at least 30 minutes. Make pickled red onions.
2. When the pickled lemon peel and red onions are ready, lightly toast the sourdough bread. Spread the toasts uniformly and generously with cream cheese. Season with black pepper and several fresh dill leaves.
3. Layer the smoked salmon atop the cream cheese, and top with the pickled red onions, pickled lemon peel, and additional dill leaves. Serve immediately.
