Salmon mousse

Salmon Mousse Recipe. Smoked Salmon Mousse Variation

Salmon Mousse

 

I know it sounds pretty corny, right? But wait till you hear how exciting I can make it, with the help of just a few simple tweaks.

I played with a few funky ingredients and ended up with this fabulous mousse. This is such a fun dish to use as a spread or thinly sliced over good bread or crackers.

Be Sure to Use Canned Salmon!

That’s right, canned! Get red salmon, that’s the best one. And do NOT remove the skin or bones: They will mercifully lose their objectionable look and disappear in the blending process, leaving in their wake only their lovely gelatinous texture (PS: It’s good for you too!).

Smoked Salmon Mousse

Yes!!! Gimme!! We often have scraps of smoked salmon and other smoked fish on hand: Smoked salmon, sable, white fish and so on. They will be perfect! Scroll down for the smoked salmon mousse variation!

No Salt Added Please!

Repeat: No salt added anywhere. Both canned salmon and smoked salmon have enough salt to season the whole dish.

Behave yourself with gelatin!

Gelatin

Talk about a problem child! I pour my heart in this post about gelatin.

Now is not a good time to be “creative”. Trust me. It will not work. Gelatin gave me a run for my money when I was a novice cook. You just learn pretty soon that you need to follow orders. Rigorously. The orders are very simple, but if you don’t follow them your recipe will never gel. So here come the main guidelines. Once you understand how to use it, the possibilities and the rewards are endless.

  • Gelatin must first be dissolved and softened in a little cold liquid.
  • It must then be combined with a boiling liquid.
  • Right amount of gelatin: Allow 1 tablespoon per pint of liquid or other ingredients
  • All other ingredients the recipe calls for must be warm or at room temperature. Not chilled
  • Allow 5-6 hours for your mold to gel. Overnight will of course be perfect.
  • Keep Gelatin molds chilled at all times, except of course the time it takes to serve it and eat it.

 

Ingredients

  • 1 15-ounce can red salmon, or two smaller cans, liquid and all
  • 1 tablespoon unflavored gelatin, 1 tablespoon
  • 1⁄2 cup boiling water

 

  • 6-8 sprigs dill, fronds and stems
  • Juice and grated zest of one lemon
  • 1 small onion, quartered
  • 1 cup dairy-free cream cheese (8-ounce container) Use dairy cream cheese if your meal is dairy
  • 1 tablespoon paprika
  • Good pinch cayenne
  • Good pinch nutmeg
  • Ground pepper to taste

 

  • 1⁄4 cup very thinly sliced chives

Instructions

Pour the liquid from the salmon can (or cans) into a bowl (you will get about 1/3 cup) and stir in the gelatin.
Let the mixture stand a few minutes, then stir in the boiling water, mixing thoroughly. Reserve the mixture.
Place the salmon and all remaining ingredients except chives in a food processor, and process until perfectly smooth. Add the reserved gelatin mixture and process a full minute, scraping the sides of the bowl to ensure everything is combined.

Stir in the chives with a spoon. Pour the mixture into a 6-cup bowl or loaf pan, or in a dozen small individual cups, and refrigerate a few hours, until the mixture is set. Serve chilled.  Makes a dozen servings.

Variation: Smoked Salmon Mousse

Same recipe. Here are the tweaks:

  • No canned salmon. Use 12 ounces smoked salmon (or smoked salmon and other smoked fish you might have on hand)
  • No canned salmon liquid. Dissolve the gelatin in 1/3 cup sake or dry white wine.

Aside from these two tweaks, proceed with the recipe as instructed.

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