Fish Roe Salad | You've Got Meal!

This has to be one of the best and easiest to make appetizers out there, but it can have an acquired taste for some people – you are eating raw fish eggs in the end. There are a lot of possibilities from which to choose when deciding what type of fish’s roe to use, and for the recipe we went for pike. In my book, pike roe is in the top half, alongside trout roe. I like the fact that it has a medium granulation and the texture is a lot smoother than other types of roe that you could use for salad, like carp or hering. I’m pretty sure this is a well known fact, but the roe you use in salads are not the fresh ones, they are preserved with salt and plenty of it, so keep that in mind.  

Ingredients: 

• 50 grams of pike roe, 
• vegetable oil (make sure you use a bland oil, without a very strong flavor), 
• lemon juice, 
• a small onion, 
• soaked bread (optional). 

Making the salad is a very similar process to the way you make mayo, it’s about adding periodically small amounts of oil and incorporating it into the roe. You can either use a fork and work out in the kitchen using your hands to mix the salad, or plug in the hand mixer on a low speed, it’s up to you. 

For about 50 grams of the roe we used about 100 rams of sunflower oil. We like to start by just mixing the roe without any other ingredients, in order to break some of the eggs, but not all of them -  they give a nice, pearled look to the dish. The amount of lemon juice you add is up to you, same as the moment you add it to the salad (we do that at the end).

The idea behind the use of the soaked bread is to create volume and to cheat about the amount of salad you make. You need to soak the bread in water, drain really well and incorporate it in the salad so there aren’t any lumps (don’t use crust for this). Finely slice the onion and incorporate it in the salad. You can choose to grate it if you’re not going for the crunch factor, but make sure you drain the onion really well then.

So that’s it, easy fish roe salad. For me, this always reminds me of 2 things:  Mrs. G.'s mother, who makes some great hering roe salad, and the taverns in Greece, that served this as antipasti alongside some Retsina wine. So, what about you guys, any thoughts about the dish or recipe?

Enjoy,

It's Elementary! Roasted Eggplant Spread- Rustic Style

This is a spread I used to have all the time as a kid. For some reason, Romanians just love eggplant. In the summer, everybody is roasting them and making their own versions of spreads and dips. It is a shame we don’t eat it that much in other ways, but we dig dips. J

I roasted 2 eggplants in the oven. Make tiny holes with a fork all over the eggplants so that they don’t explode all over your oven walls. Then, put them in the oven in a tray on some baking sheet.  I let them roast for 40-45 minutes, until you can fell that the inside is soft.

Let them cool a little and then peel the roasted skin off them. After that you have to beat them and mix them with a spatula to make them like a cream. The easy way is to use the food processor, of course.

While the eggplants are roasting, grate one onion with a manual grater or just chop it finely using your food processor. Then chop as fine as you can (don’t worry too much, this is supposed to be rustic and have a crunch) one medium bell pepper.

Mix the eggplant paste with the onion and bell pepper, add some salt, 2 tbsp of olive oil and some lemon juice if you feel it needs it. I like this version because the bell peppers give it a crunch and a nice sweetness.

Enjoy,