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Recipe Detail Page
Fresh Dill Biscuits with Smoked Trout and Watercress Crème Fraîche
Early Summer 2009
This is a beautiful mini-sandwich, perfect as part of an elegant brunch, lunch or shower. Using frozen butter allows you to add butter without its melting into the dough and helps make these biscuits light and crisp.
Makes 8
Biscuits
2 cups (500 mL) all-purpose flour
2 tsp (10 mL) baking powder
½ tsp (2 mL) baking soda
1 ½ tsp (7 mL) kosher salt
½ cup (125 mL) unsalted butter,frozen
3 tbsp (45 mL) chopped dill
1 cup (250 mL) buttermilk, well shaken
2 tbsp (25 mL) melted butter
Filling
¼ cup (50 mL) crème fraîche
¼ cup (50 mL) deli-style cream cheese
1 cup (250 mL) watercress leaves, chopped
1 ½ tsp (7 mL) finely chopped shallot
½ tsp (2 mL) grated lemon rind
Salt
½ lb (250 g) smoked rainbow trout fillet with skin removed, flaked into pieces
8 sprigs watercress
1. Preheat oven to 425°F (220°C).
2. Combine flour, baking powder, soda and salt in a bowl, mix well with a fork. Use the large holes on a box grater to grate butter into flour mixture, and toss until butter is just coated with flour. Add dill and enough buttermilk to form a sticky dough (you may need slightly more or less buttermilk).
3. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface, and pat into a thickness of1 inch (2.5 cm). Use a floured 2½-inch (6-cm) round cutter to cut out 8 biscuits(do not twist cutter in dough as it will keep biscuit from rising properly), gently gathering and re-rolling scraps as needed. Place biscuits on a baking sheet and brush tops with melted butter.
4. Bake biscuits for 18 to 20 minutes or until tops are golden and crisp and biscuits are cooked through. Cool.
5. Combine crème fraîche and cream cheese and stir until uniform. Add watercress, shallot and lemon rind and stir until well combined. Season with salt to taste.
6. To assemble sandwiches, split biscuits in half, spread watercress filling over bottom halves, divide smoked trout between them, top with watercress sprig. Spread watercress filling overcut side of top of biscuits and place on top of watercress.
Makes 8
