Salmon and Dill Mini Tarts

In December, I plowed my way through all seven seasons of "Gilmore Girls." I had forgotten how much I loved that show -- the quick talking, the pop culture references, the quirky townspeople, the grumpy Luke, and the relationship between Lorelai and Rory. One thing that really bothered me though was that Rory only applied to Yale and Harvard, as if it was a given she'd get in. Just because she was smart doesn't make that a given. She only did newspaper, and she wasn't even the editor. And one day hammering walls for Habitat for Humanity doesn't cut it for volunteer work. Sooo unrealistic. As if the show was realistic anyway. Ha!

Remember in Season 6, episode 5, "We've Got Magic to Do," in which Rory and Lorelai are on the outs because she wanted to drop out of school and moved into her grandparents' pool house and worked for the Daughters of the American Revolution and hosted a WWII-themed party? She served salmon tarts. Salmon tarts! I couldn't get the idea out of my head. (Also, did you know Season 6 is the only one that doesn't have English subtitles? Only Spanish and French. My DVD player sometimes makes the sound go in and out, so I like to have subtitles on just to make sure I catch everything. Watching "Gilmore Girls" with Spanish subtitles sure was an interesting experience.)

So recently when I was making my standard Baked Salmon with Lemon Pepper Seasoning, I decided to use the leftovers to make these salmon and dill mini tarts. Add a bit of sour cream and cream cheese to the salmon and baked them in puff pastry with another dollop of sour cream and dill on top.

Serve these as appetizers for a dinner party and they'll go just like that. I liked them best when the puff pastry and salmon filling were still warm, to contrast with the fresh coolness of the sour cream and dill, but they tasted just fine when cooled too.




Salmon and Dill Mini Tarts

For 2 dozen mini tarts, you'll need:

Puff pastry
4 oz fillet of Baked Salmon with Lemon Pepper Seasoning and allow to cool
2 oz cream cheese
2 tblsp sour cream

For topping:
1/2 cup sour cream
2 tblsp chopped dill
1 tblsp lemon juice

Make Baked Salmon with Lemon Pepper Seasoning, or whichever method you prefer. Mix in 2 oz of cream cheese and 2 tblsp sour cream. The lemon pepper seasoning should be plenty enough seasoning, but if you need more, taste and adjust if necessary. Set aside.




Cut the puff pastry to fit into a mini cupcake pan.




Spoon the salmon mixture into the little puff pastry shells.




Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or until the puff pastry is golden.

In case you don't have a mini cupcake pan, I also cut the puff pastry sheets into roughly 2-inch squares. Just spoon the mixture on top and bake same as above.




Meanwhile, make the topping by adding chopped dill to sour cream and squeezing in about a tblsp of lemon juice.




I put the mixture into a sandwich bag, where I had snipped out a corner to put in a pastry tip, but the dill was too big to squeeze out properly. So it's probably best to just use a spoon for the topping.




After 15 minutes or so, you get this.




Plate. But wait, I'm not done.




Add a dollop of the sour cream and dill on top of each mini tart.




This is what the non-cupcake pan mini tarts looked like.




Still pretty tasty-looking anyway if you want to try the recipe and don't have mini-cupcake pans.




But if you do, then these look and taste much better.




Enjoy!

Some of my other pie and tart recipes:
Apple Crumble Pie
Banh Dua Nuong (Vietnamese Coconut Tartlets)
Cherry Lattice-Crust Pie
Pluot Apple Galette
Pumpkin Pie with Chai Spices
Sour Cream Apple Pie

*****
1 year ago today, sparkling wine and pinot noir tastings at Argyle Winery - Dundee - Oregon.
2 years ago today, Canh Tao/Rong Bien (Vietnamese Seaweed Soup).
3 years ago today, Bamboodles Restaurant - San Gabriel (Closed).
4 years ago today, Angkor Thom: Victory Gate, Bayon Temple, Prasats Suor Prat, Terrace of the Leper King, Terrace of the Elephants, and Phimeanakas - Cambodia.
5 years ago today, Japanese Gobo Root (Burdock) Fries.