Blinis with herring roe and horseradish

• By Claire Borg

This recipe is for around 20 blinis.

You will need:

100g of flour, 100ml of water, 50g of potato (boiled and finely mashed), 3g of dry yeast, 4g of fine sea salt, an egg (separated), 40g of butter, some more butter, 75ml of ale.

For the garnish: 200ml of fresh cream, herring roe, a small but strongly flavoured horseradish.

Mix the mashed potato, ale and water in a large bowl. Sprinkle the yeast over it, and leave it to stand for five minutes. Now whisk the mixture together until all the ingredients are well combined. Sieve the salt and flour into the bowl and whisk again. Cover the bowl and leave it to stand for two hours, mixing once during this time. Melt 40g of butter and add it with the egg-yolk to the rest of the mixture, and mix well. Whisk the egg-white until it is stiff but not dry, and fold it into the mixture. Heat a heavy-bottomed non-stick pan or pancake pan, brush the base with a tiny amount of melted butter and, using a large tablespoon, spoon the mixture onto the hot pan, in the same way you would when making pancakes. Cook the blinis over a low flame, one at a time, until the sides start to lift off. Using a palette knife, flip the blini over and cook it for another few minutes until it is done. Serve this warm with horseradish cream and roe. To make the horseradish cream, whisk together 200ml of fresh cream and a finely chopped small but strongly flavoured horseradish.