Salmon Pizza with Creme Fraiche

I thought a Salmon pizza sounded good, so I looked around and compared some recipes and ingredients. I found this recipe online and made a few tweaks to make it my own. The original called for some things we don't eat. After making it, I wonder if it would be good with caramelized onion or confit d'oignon and just a squeeze of lemon juice. I also saw recipes with cream cheese. So maybe cubes of cream cheese instead of dollops of creme fraiche? I may try it again. I might add some crushed red pepper flakes for heat. This recipe has lots of steps but it is very easy. See below for a link to the original. It may be what you are looking for. :)

Salmon Pizza

INGREDIENTS

10 oz. sockeye salmon (pin bones and skin removed)*
pizza dough
olive oil
1 lemon
1 cup sugar, divided
1 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1 red onion, sliced thinly
2 Tbsp. salt
1 tsp. each fresh dill, parsley, basil, and thyme
mozzarella cheese
Crème Fraîche**

DIRECTIONS

Make pizza dough. If frozen, defrost salmon. Pre-heat your oven to 475°F. (The original recipe says "as hot as it will go", but I backed off just a little.)

Heat up a skillet on medium high heat with a little olive oil. Slice the 1 lemon thin, coating the slices in about ½ cup sugar and place in the skillet to caramelize. Once some color develops, remove the lemon slices with tongs and let cool (HOT SUGAR makes nasty burns!) on a plate, then finely chop and set aside.

REMOVE AS SOON AS COLOR DEVELOPS! I left mine a little too long and I got caramel with lemon. It wasn't burned, but difficult to handle. 

Next, in a bowl combine 1 ½ cup red wine vinegar, ½ cup sugar and 2 Tbsp salt in a bowl. Add in your thinly sliced red onion and let it marinate. I suggest breaking the rings apart so you get an even marinade on the onion.

Chop up the herbs, When the oven is way hot, drizzle the salmon with olive oil and salt it to taste. Place the fish on a baking dish and place in the oven, baking until medium rare. Remove and tent with tin foil.

While the fish cooks, shape dough and top with mozzarella and dot with crème fraîche, or do what I did: Smear on creme fraiche and top with mozzarella. When you pull the salmon out, put the pizza in and bake until it looks like you want it to. (This will depend on the thickness of your crust and your oven, so check it after 8 to 10 minutes.)

Dollops? oops. I don't follow directions well, do I? 

Once it's done, slice your pizza and then break up the salmon onto the pizza, topping it with the caramelized lemon, freshly ground pepper, and herbs. Drain the red onion and squeeze it to remove excess vinegar and throw it on your pizza and drizzle with some olive oil. ENJOY!

Sorry, it's blurry! I was excited! 

*I used a 10 oz. frozen bag because that's all I could find here in the desert. I baked my salmon with the skin on, skin side down. It is easy to remove from cooked fish.

**Crème fraîche: You could buy it, but it's easy to make it yourself: 1 part buttermilk to 2 parts heavy cream. Let sit covered at room temp for 24 hrs. then refrigerate. If you use "whipping cream" and not "heavy whipping cream" your product will turn out too liquid. It should be the consistency of a soft sour cream. If this is scary to you, I knew a chef that made mock crème fraîche by stirring lemon juice and a pinch of salt into heavy cream. It's quick, it's easy and the health dept. doesn't yell at you for it.☻ 

Experiment #33113B.....Blueberry and Meyer Lemon Dessert

Ok, this dessert was truly born from experimentation and necessity. I had a pint of blueberries and two Meyer lemons. I had found a forgotten package of croissant dough, and I needed to use them lest they expire.  

First, I cooked the blueberries with a bit of sugar, the zest and the juice from the lemons. It looked a little thin, so I threw in some cooked apple and some corn starch to thicken it. 

At first, I thought I would make cute little individual pies… but then, I got lazy. There, I said it. I didn’t want to stand there all day pinching closed little pockets of dough that may defy me in the oven and burst open…. 

Then I thought, this yummy fruit concoction I made would be delish on a slice of cheesecake. Then I thought about the “sopapilla cheesecake” a co-worker’s wife used to bring to us. 

Oh, boy, I have an idea. I brushed the bottom of an 8”x8” dish with butter then sprinkled on some cinnamon

sugar. Then, I lined the bottom of the pan with croissant dough. 

I mixed together: 1 (8 oz) brick of cream cheese, ½ c. sugar, 1 egg and a ¼ tsp. of lemon extract (I would have used zest, but it was all in my blueberry mixture).  I spread this mixture onto the croissant dough. I topped that with my cooled fruit mixture. 

I added another layer of croissant dough, brushed on more melted butter, and sprinkled with more cinnamon sugar. (My cinnamon is light because my husband doesn’t care for copious amounts like I do.) I popped it into a 375°F oven for about 30 min. oh, wow. I’m a genius! ;)  

When you first take it out of the oven, it will be puffed up a little. It will deflate as it's cooled. People asked for the recipe, so I thought I better write it down!

Blueberry & Meyer Lemon Cream Cheese Pie

You will need:

Croissant dough (homemade or one store-bought refrigerated tube)
3 to 4 tbsp. melted butter
4 tbsp. cinnamon sugar
Fruit Filling (recipe below)
Cream cheese filling (recipe below)

Butter an 8x8 baking dish. Sprinkle in about 1 tbsp. cinnamon sugar. Place one layer of croissant dough on the bottom. Spread in cream cheese filling. Spread on fruit filling. Top with remaining croissant dough. Brush with remaining melted butter. Top with remaining cinnamon sugar. Place in a 375°F oven for 20-35 min. or until golden brown.  Cool completely and store in the refrigerator.

For the fruit filling:
1 pint blueberries
1 Fuji apple, peeled and finely diced
The zest and juice of 2 Meyer lemons
½ to 1 c. sugar (more or less depending on the tartness of your fruit)
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons water

Place blueberries, apple, lemon zest, lemon juice, and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir to dissolve sugar as it heats. Once your fruit is cooked, make a slurry of the cornstarch and water and add to the fruit. Simmer to thickened (at least one minute). Remove from heat and let cool.

For the cream cheese filling:

8 oz. cream cheese
½ c. sugar
1 egg
¼ tsp. lemon extract

Using a mixer, cream together cream cheese and sugar. Add in egg and extract. Beat to creamy consistency. If you have more lemon, add in some zest. 

Yogurt

Some quick ideas for yogurt:

My favorite yogurt! :) Yummy! So many possibilities.

Layer yogurt and vanilla wafers. Top with a dollop of lemon curd. You can eat it
immediately, or you can store in the refrigerator until the cookies soften slightly.
Tastes like a decadent dessert. If you measure your ingredients judiciously, you will
have control over the calories you are using. Don't want cookies? It's great with just a
teaspoon of lemon curd. 

Top with your favorite granola. I like to place fruit in a bowl, top with
yogurt, then granola on top. 

More ideas:

• Plain yogurt with a drizzle of honey, a sprinkle of granola
• Summer oatmeal: Basically, combine equal parts oatmeal, yogurt, milk. Let set in refrigerator overnight. Serve cold. Top with fruit. 
• Try with a dollop of Nutella
• Try crushed up cookies, graham crackers
• Add lime curd
• Add chocolate chips or crushed candy
• Use banana and vanilla wafers for a banana pudding type experience. 
• Stir in fruit pie filling
• Add unsweetened apple sauce (another favorite of mine)
• Add a chopped up apple.
• Stir in apple butter

I'm looking forward to your comments. What do you add to your yogurt? 

Sangria Tea

I think I'm going to try this. It looks interesting....

Update: I made it and it's pretty good. Only suggestion from me is to add sweetener... Yummy! I think using ginger ale instead of sparkling water would be okay.

Lipton’s Sangria Tea

3 c. boiling water

3 Family-Size tea bags

2 c. 100% grape juice

1 medium orange, sliced

1 medium lemon, sliced

1 lime, sliced

1 ½ c. Seltzer, Club Soda or Sparkling Water

Brew tea in boiling water for five minutes. Remove tea bags. Stir in sweetener, if desired (I added ½ c. sugar).  Stir ingredients except seltzer water and chill at least 2 hours. Right before serving, add soda. Serve over ice. Enjoy!

Cranberry Tea

I got this cranberry tea in a can on a road trip. Normally, I'm not a tea-in-a-can fan, but it will do in a pinch. After tasting this, I decided it was ok, but it could be great.  I read the ingredients on the can as a reference. So, off to the kitchen we go.....

For half a gallon (almost 2L) I used:

• 2 large tea bags
• 1 Splenda quick pack
• 1 small (10 oz.) bottle of 100% cran-grape juice
• about 1/2 c. apple juice (I didn't measure just poured)
• the juice from 1/2 a lemon, hand-squeezed. 
• Bottled water to fill to the top
• Crushed ice 

Start by brewing your tea. Heat the water, add tea bags let steep about 5 min. Pour all ingredients but the water into the pitcher, give it a stir. Add plenty of ice, and top off with the bottled water, and give another stir. Yes, you can use tap water, but I live in a place where it's unbearable/unthinkable to drink.

In retrospect, I would have left out the splenda or used about 1/2 the packet. This came out way to syrupy sweet for me.  So I guess I will try again later :)