If you’re lucky enough to get some fresh fish eggs, you can make some wonderful fresh caviar. I was lucky, as our friend Steve Yoshida brought back some fresh salmon eggs from his second home in Homer, Alaska.
The correct way to freeze fresh roe is to place it in water and freeze the roe with the water to encase them in a block of ice.
Chum salmon eggs are large, pale, reddish-orange caviar. Coho and king roe are large, red-pink and mild-flavored. Sockeye salmon eggs are the smallest and bright red and pink salmon roe are slightly bitter.
Salmon roe is an excellent dietary source of omega-3 fat, as well as vitamins B, D, A and C. The orange-red color of salmon eggs comes from astaxanthin, an antioxidant carotenoid, found in carrots and similar to lutein, lycopene found in tomatoes, and beta-carotene.
When preparing roe into caviar, soaking the encased roe in a saturated salt solution for five minutes will firm the eggs slightly and make them easier to separate from the skein. This solution is 12 ounces of salt to 1 quart of water, dissolved.
Remove the eggs from the salt solution after five minutes and place them in a clean sieve. Gently manipulate the eggs to separate them from the skein. Remove bits of blood, skin and parasites, which are not common.
Make a brine solution of 1/2 cup salt and 2 cups water and brine for five to 30 minutes and no more. Any longer and they will be too salty.
Pour the eggs into a colander, rinse well under clean, cold water and remove any remaining bits of membrane.
Store salmon roe tightly covered in refrigerator for up to three weeks, or freeze for up to two months.
The prepared ikura, or salmon roe, can now become an ingredient in sushi, topping for blinis, or on top of omelets.
Caviar and Salmon Blini Tortes
Serves 4
Egg salad:
Stir together the following ingredients in a small bowl:
2 hard-cooked eggs, finely chopped
4 tablespoons sour cream
2 tablespoons finely chopped chives
Pinch salt
Blini:
Mix together in a medium bowl:
1/4 cup buckwheat flour
6 tablespoons flour
2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
Add:
1/2 cup whole milk
2 large eggs yolks
Melt and allow to cool one stick unsalted butter
Beat with a clean whisk in a separate bowl until it forms soft peaks: two large egg whites, fold egg whites into batter, 4 tablespoons melted butter.
With remaining melted butter, brush a 12-inch nonstick skillet, heat over medium heat until hot. Working in batches of six, drop 1 level tablespoon batter per pancake into skillet and cook until bubbles appear on surface and undersides are golden, 45 seconds to one minute. Flip over and cook one minute more. Brush blini on both sides with some of remaining melted butter, then transfer to a plate and keep warm, covered with foil. Brush skillet with butter between batches.
To finish:
Have ready:
1/2 pound thinly sliced smoked salmon at room temperature
4 ounces salmon roe caviar
Sour cream and chopped chives
Place a piece of smoked salmon on six blini, top with egg salad. Spoon caviar onto six more blini, then stack on egg-salad-topped blini.
Small bites
Types of caviar:
• Ikura is salmon roe and is often called red caviar.
• Familiar in a Japanese home at New Year’s is salted herring roe, or kazunoko.
• Uni, or sea eggs, are from the sea urchin.
• American black caviar, or black sturgeon roe, are commonly seen in little jars at the market.
• Masago is capelin roe and are tiny, fluorescent eggs often used as a topping for sushi.
• Similar to masago and often less expensive is tobiko, or flying fish roe.
• Bottarga is salted mullet roe and is also called Sardinian caviar. It is salty and then sun-dried, and because it becomes hard you can shave or grate it over pasta, fish or salads.
• Sevruga, ossetra and beluga caviar are all very expensive because of the overfishing in the Caspian Sea. More abundant caviar from other areas should be considered.
• Paddlefish, or grey pearl, caviar is from a fish related to the sturgeon that thrives in Southern rivers. They are less expensive than caviar from the Caspian Sea.
• American golden caviar is whitefish roe and as the name states, is yellow.
Foodie bites
The Volcano Winery Harvest Festival is scheduled for 4-7 p.m. Sunday at Volcano Winery, located at the end of the Volcano Golf Course, 25 Pii Mauna Drive. The event is a fundraiser for the Volcano School of Arts and Sciences STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math) program.
Enjoy samplings of food from:
• Café Ono: frittatas and canapés.
• Lava Rock Café: homemade pizza.
• Ohia Café: soup, sandwiches, salad, quiches and desserts.
• Papa’a Palaoa Bakery: various bread and cookies.
• Rusty’s Coffee: assorted coffee blends.
• Thai Thai Restauant: summer rolls.
• Tuk Tuk Thai Food: crispy vegetarian spring rolls.
• Volcano House: Asian style braised Big Island Beef, Molokoi potatoes and crispy Puna kale, macadamia nut poke stack with Johnson Farm vegetable slaw, wonton chip, smoked lomi salmon with truffle oil, scallion mousse and alae sea salt.
• Volcano Winery: cheese and spread.
• VooDoo: red beans and rice.
• HFM: hot dogs for the keiki.
Grammy award winning Keoki Kahumoku and friends will entertain participants during the event, Volcano wines will be flowing in guests’ souvenir wine glasses and tours will be conducted to the vineyards.
Please feel free to email me at audreywilson808@gmail.com if you have questions.
