Smoked Salmon Quiche Potato Skins with Irish Potato Farls

To download a copy of the recipe for Smoked Salmon Quiche Potato Skins with Irish Potato Farls, click HERE.

Quiche remains one of the great versatile dishes; it’s easy to make, the varieties of filling ingredients you can use are limited only by your imagination, and it serves equally well for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner.

I guess you can tell I like quiche.

In this week’s recipe, we give quiche a delicious, Irish-inspired twist: Smoked Salmon Quiche Potato Skins. And, for good measure, we’ll use the scooped-out potato flesh to make Irish Potato Farls, a tasty potato pancake that works nicely as a side with the quiche.

A few Cook’s Notes to get us started.

• You’ll notice that the quiche filling includes some pancake batter ingredients. This is done to lighten the texture of the filling a bit.

• If any of the potato skins tear while you’re scooping out the inside, don’t worry. Using your fingers, just press some of the soft potato flesh you’ve scooped out onto the tear to patch it. (If you’ve ever spackled nail holes before painting a wall, you’ll have the idea.)

• Rather than making individual patties as we’ll do in this recipe, farls are normally made as a large patty that is then cut into four wedges. (“Farl” is from the Gaelic fardel, meaning “four parts.”) You can do that here too, if you like.

• If you have any extra quiche filling, save it. It makes a great frittata!

• You’ll see some chopped tomatoes and herbs in the background of several of the photos, but that are not mentioned in the recipe. These were for the simple salad I served with the quiche.

This recipe makes 8 half-potatoes quiches. (That’s 4 hearty servings or 8 light-meal servings.) It also makes 6 – 8 farls.

To bake the potatoes:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Pierce four large russet potatoes with a fork several times. Lightly rub the outside of each with some butter substitute.

Bake until the inside is soft and the fork penetrates easily, about 60 minutes. While the potatoes are baking, prepare the quiche filling as described below.

When the potatoes have finished baking, set them aside till they have cooled enough to be handled.

To make the quiche filling:

Prepare ¾ C shredded Irish cheddar cheese, 2 cloves minced garlic, ¼ cup fine-diced onion, and 8 ounces of chopped smoked salmon. Set aside.

In a bowl, whisk the following ingredients together to make a batter:  1 C plus 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour; 1 tsp baking powder; ¼ tsp salt; 1 Tbsp sugar; 1 egg-substitute egg; ½ C skim milk; and 2 Tbsp melted butter substitute.

In a bowl, combine the cheddar cheese, garlic, onion, and smoked salmon; 2 egg-substitute eggs; ½ C skim milk; ½ tsp salt; a pinch of fresh ground black pepper; 2 Tbsp capers; and 2 tsp dried dill.Whisk in the batter, and set aside until ready to use.

To make the quiches:

When the potatoes have finished baking and have cooled enough to handle, cut each in half length-wise. Using a spoon, carefully scoop out the inside of each half-potato, leaving about ¼“ thickness. Reserve the scooped-out potato flesh in a bowl.

Place the potato skins on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicon sheet. Fill each with the quiche filling. Bake for about 20 minutes, turning the baking sheet half-way, until the filling is firm and a knife or skewer inserted comes out clean. When done, let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

While the quiches are baking, make the farls as described below.

To make the farls:

Combine the scooped out potato flesh with 3/4 cup all-purpose flour; 1-1/2 Tbsp melted butter substitute; 2 Tbsp finely chopped onion; 2 Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary; 1 Tbsp chopped fresh thyme; ½ Tbsp salt (plus additional to taste); and a pinch of fresh ground black pepper (plus additional to taste). Mix until it has a dough-like consistency, adding a little more flour if necessary. (The batch in the photos required the addition of another ¼ cup of flour; a lot will depend on your potatoes.) Knead the dough lightly for about a minute.

Cut the dough ball into six or eight pieces. Roll or pat each piece out to about ¼” thick.

Place them in batches in a lightly-oil non-stick pan and cook until browned, 3 – 4 minutes per side. As you finish each batch, place the cooked farls on a plate and cover with a clean towel while you cook the others.

When the quiches are farls are ready, serve one or two potato skins and one or two farls on each plate. Garnish the quiches with a bit of dried or fresh parsley. (For a nice added touch, serve a salad on the side. It’s the perfect accompaniment to quiche!)

To download a copy of the recipe for Smoked Salmon Quiche Potato Skins with Irish Potato Farls, click HERE. 

And there you have it: a lovely (and easy!) Irish-inspired meal that you didn’t even have to wait till St. Patrick’s Day to make. (These reheat pretty well, too, so enjoy any leftovers the next day.)

Please come back next week to enjoy another kitchen-tested recipe! Till then, stay well, keep it about the food, and always remember to kiss the cook. ;-)