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. ;-)

Smoked Salmon Hummus

When you’re looking for healthy food that’s simple to prepare, it’s hard to beat home-made hummus. If it’s a delicious light meal you want, smoked salmon (which packs its own good collection of nutrients, including omega-3 fatty acids) is a great way to go. And should a single food that combines both be what you seek, read on! Home-made Smoked Salmon Hummus works equally well for breakfast, for lunch, as an appetizer, healthy snack, or as a dip for breads, crackers or veggies that guests at your next gathering will love.

Hummus has been around in one form or another since at least the 13^th century, and is found in most countries of the Middle East. It has become quite popular here in the United States as well. Typically made from tahini (which, in turn, is made from sesame seeds), chick peas, lemon juice, garlic and olive oil, it is widely considered a nutritionally well-rounded vegetarian dish. According to Wikipedia, hummus is a great source of iron, vitamins B6 and C, folate, protein, dietary fiber, and the amino acid methionine.

This recipe adds smoked salmon to the mix. (It is important to note that the term “smoked salmon” can refer to a number of products, depending on where you’re located; as used here, the term refers to the cured salmon fillet often called “lox” and that is generally associated with bagels.) Hummus normally being a vegetarian dish, I know of no other recipe that combines it with fish or animal protein, although I have to think that, sometime between the 13^th century and today, someone else, somewhere, must have done it. And let’s not forget that smoked salmon packs a lot of nutrition as well. Livestrong cites smoked salmon as being a good source of lean protein, calcium, selenium, niacin, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, and omega-3 fatty acids. It also offers vitamins D, B-6 and B-12. With all that going for smoked salmon, combining it with a healthier spread-base than cream cheese starts to make a lot of sense!

This recipe makes about four cups of hummus.

First, we’ll need our tahini, the sesame seed paste that serves the same function in hummus as mayonnaise does in tuna salad. You can either buy ready-made tahini (you’ll need about ¼ cup) or make it as follows:

In an oven or toaster-oven, toast ½ cup of sesame seeds at 350 degrees until golden brown. Let cool for 15 minutes.

Combine the sesame seeds with 1-1/2 tablespoons of olive oil in a food processor. (A mini food processor is good here because of the small quantity of sesame seeds.) Puree until creamy.

With the tahini now ready, let's use it to make our hummus.

Prepare the following: 2 cups chickpeas (well-drained canned are ok); juice of 1 lemon; 2 cloves garlic, chopped; 8 ounces smoked salmon, divided (6 ounces chopped, 2 ounces minced); and 2 tablespoons of capers, divided (1 Tbsp + 1 Tbsp).

Combine the tahini, chick peas, lemon juice, garlic, 6 ounces of chopped smoked salmon and 1 tablespoon of capers in a food processor. Process the ingredients in batches if necessary for the capacity of your food processor.

Process to desired consistency. (As you’ll see in the photos, I like my hummus a little chunky, but that’s just me. Process it till it’s the consistency you like. Remember, it’s your hummus.) Once you have the consistency you want, transfer the mixture to a bowl or container and fold in ½ a diced large tomato; 2 tablespoons of minced onion; 1 teaspoon dried dill; 2 ounces of minced smoked salmon; 1 tablespoon of capers (broken slightly be pressing each between your thumb and index finger as you add them); ½ teaspoon of salt; and ¼ teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper.

Adjust seasoning to taste.

Top with one or two tablespoons of dried parsley; it’s great served in pita bread as a sandwich (pictured above). Another way to serve hummus (this or any other) is to put it in a bowl and drizzle the top with olive oil, and use it as a spread or dip.

Hope you like this unique, delicious variation on of the most classic dishes around, and that you’ll visit again next week for another easy, delicious recipe! Till then, stay well, keep it about the food, and always remember to kiss the cook. ;-)