Unbelievably Good Salmon Toasties

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Apr 27, 2007

This recipe is amazing. It's one that I pull out in one form or another every time I throw a party, and it's always a hit. Everyone who tries this is impressed, and first timers are seen hanging around in the corner that has the salmon toasties in it.

I picked this recipe up from one of my wife's relatives, the late Anne Tapper, and have since made it my own with a few tweaks. Peter and Anne invited Kirstin and I around for tea, and proceeded to blow us away with the best meal I had experienced in some time.
This particular evening I was introduced to these salmon toastie things, but Peter and Anne also got me hooked on orange juice with those chunky fleshy bits in there. I drank so much of their orange juice that night it was almost rude. And those toastie things.... mmmmmmm.

So, the simple salmon toastie, guaranteed to get your guests in a good mood. I have made these so many times I have had the opportunity to try lots of different variations - some are quick and easy, others are time consuming but rewarding. They all work well, so feel free to go with whatever variant you like.

You will need...

Salmon - 400g fresh salmon fillet, or 200g smoked salmon pieces
3 lemons
Most of a 250g pot of cream cheese
2 french loaves of bread, or make your own
Dill or fennel to garnish

Buying the right salmon at the right price

I started making this dish with smoked salmon in a packet. You don't need that much to make this work, as the other ingredients give most of the flavour. I found that the 200g packets are the perfect amount for 2 french sticks, but you can stretch it out if you need to.
When you buy smoked salmon in a packet, I find the cleanly sliced pieces are the most expensive, while the roughly chopped bits are cheaper. I find you are better off with the rouch pieces, and buying more of it.

Buying the packet salmon is much more expensive than buying fresh (about 3x the price for the same weight) however you can get away with using much less of the packet stuff.
The fresh salmon tastes better and is cheaper, but it takes longer to prepare, so it's not quite as quick to throw together.

If you are buying fresh salmon, you can get salmon fillets or salmon steaks - both work fine, and it's exactly the same meat, just sliced differently. For some reason, salmon fillets seem to be more expensive, so if this is the case buy the steaks instead. Tonight's salmon toasties were done with fresh salmon fillets, the price happened to be the same on the day.

Make your own bread

This recipe tastes amazing with freshly made wholegrain bread. But it's a lot faster to use fresh french sticks or baguettes from the bakery. Your choice.

If you are going with the fresh bread, make a wholegrain dough according to the directions of your breadmaker. Adding herbs to the bread is always a good thing - I found a good handful of sage and coriander worked a treat.

After the breadmaker has done it's thing, roll the dough into 2 long sausage shapes and place on an oven tray or pizza stone. You can use some polenta or corn flour to prevent the bread from sticking, or just deal with the sticking and knife it off later.

Cook the bread for approx 20 mins at 200 degrees Celsius.

Toast the bread

Chop your bread into bite sized pieces and lightly toast each side. If you have spent all day making and rolling your own bread, you DO NOT want to burn the toasties at this stage. Stand there and watch it cook, now is not a good time for a coffee.
I like to lightly toast both sides, but it's also nice to leave the underside really soft and untoasted, especially when your bread is nice and fresh.

Cook the Salmon

For fresh salmon, fry the fillets or steaks on both sides until cooked through. You won't need much oil in the pan for this, as the salmon is a particularly oily fish.

Add the toppings

First goes the cream cheese. Apply a generous coating of cream cheese to each toastie, spreading right to the edges.

Next up is the salmon - apply a measly piece of salmon to each toastie until you know how far it's going to go, then go back and add a bit more if you have leftovers.

The lemon pieces go on next. The lazy way to do this is to squeeze 3 lemons across the top of the plate, which is a good idea if guests are knocking on your door. If you happen to have some time up your sleeve, the proper way is to slice the lemon into little pieces and place a couple of pieces on each toastie. You do this by cutting the lemon into thin slices, then removing the skin from each slice and chopping into smaller pieces. Slice up 2 lemons, then use the 3rd lemon to squeeze lemon juice across the toasties. This image may do a better job of explaining...