Using smoked foods, including smoked salmon, is an elegant alternative to old standards for entertaining, or even every day meals. It has a unique taste and the flavors of natural wood smoke, seasonings, and brines. The quality, texture, and taste of salmon lend themselves to outstanding quality and versatility in recipes. Smoked salmon can be used for appetizers or main courses for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Smoked salmon is commonly seen on breakfast or weekend brunch menus as a delicious option. Classic Nova style sliced smoked salmon is delectable on its own or paired with bagels, cream cheese, capers, and onions. It also works well for delightful brunch recipes such as the following frittata:

Smoked Salmon, Leek, and Dill Frittata

Preparation

Preheat broiler. Melt butter in medium, nonstick, ovenproof skillet over medium heat. Add leek; cover and cook until tender, about 4 minutes. Whisk eggs and dill in medium bowl to blend; stir in cream cheese. Pour eggs over leek; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and cook until edges are set but center is still runny, about 4 minutes. Scatter salmon over frittata. Broil until frittata is puffed and golden, about 1 minute. Cut frittata into 4 wedges. Place 2 wedges on each plate and serve.

Smoked salmon is also frequently seen as a wonderful appetizer or hors d'oeuvre, and again, it stands alone beautifully, but can also be enjoyed in many recipes. An elegant smoke salmon recipe to serve for entertaining special guests could be the Caviar and Salmon Blini Tortes, which are sure to impress.

Caviar and Salmon Blini Tortes

For Egg Salad

1 tablespoon finely chopped chives

For Blini

For Filling

2 oz trout caviar, such as rainbow- trout caviar, or salmon roe

Preparation

Make egg salad:

Stir together all ingredients and a pinch of salt.

Make blini:

Whisk together dry ingredients in a bowl. Add milk and yolk and whisk until smooth. Beat egg white with a clean whisk in another bowl until it just holds soft peaks. Fold into batter along with 2 tablespoons melted butter. Brush a 12-inch nonstick skillet with some of remaining melted butter, then heat over medium heat until hot. Working in batches of 6 or 7, drop 1 level tablespoon batter per pancake into skillet and cook until bubbles appear on surface and undersides are golden, 45 seconds to 1 minute. Flip over and cook 1 minute more. Brush blini on both sides with some of remaining melted butter, then transfer to a plate and keep warm, covered with foil. Brush skillet with butter between batches.

Fill tortes:

Drape smoked salmon on 6 blini and top with egg salad. Spoon caviar onto 6 more blini, then stack on egg-salad-topped blini and serve.

Using smoked salmon recipes for a main course makes a statement with the distinctive taste that sets it apart from the ordinary. North Atlantic salmon is available as well as wild Alaskan Sockeye salmon. Both can be prepared hot or cold smoked with unique spice blends for their characteristic flavor. The following main dish pasta recipe uses the smoked salmon combined with cr'me fraiche and herbs to complement the flavor.

Smoked Salmon Pasta Verde

3/4 cup cr'me fra?che or sour cream

Preparation

Boil wine in medium saucepan until reduced to 3/4 cup, about 8 minutes. Remove wine from heat and whisk in cr'me fra?che.

Meanwhile, cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until almost tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Add sugar snap peas or edamame to same pot and cook until peas are crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Drain pasta and peas, and then return to pot.

Pour cr'me fra?che mixture over pasta and peas. Add green onions, parsley, and thyme; toss to coat. Add salmon; toss again. Season pasta with salt and pepper. Divide pasta among plates and serve.

Sugartown Smoked Specialties, Inc. offers smoked salmon, and has an expertise smokehouse staff who pays particular attention to detail in preparing their smoked foods. The result is exceptional tasting smoked seafood, fowl, pork, and other specialties offered by Smokedfoods.com. Products are available on line, and at their retail location in Chester County, Pennsylvania.