Back on solid ground! Sort of. I think… Well, I suppose you guys know how busy things can get as soon as you get off a plane and return to day-to-day business after a vacation. Busy enough for time and space to seemingly bend around you, forming a sneaky little bubble while you’re not looking. Those bubbles, on top of everything else, have a nasty penchant to Shanghai you by popping you out into full awareness (and possibly panic-mode… with a ginormic headache to boot) about a week later, and, of course, leaving you to figure out where on earth the last week went all by your lonesome.

I’ve just dropped out of a bubble like that – not just exhausted and seriously considering simply hopping on the next best plane for another vacation but also with a whole lot of blanks as to what I had cooked or eaten during the past week, what I had planned to cook or eat during the following week, which of my recipes I had intended to share with you guys next… or even what I was in the mood for right at that moment.
So, as dinner time was edging closer, I found myself facing a choice of a) panic with a salty side of frustration or b) drowning choice a) in a cup of tea and whipping up a true comfort dish from my “Favorites” collection! In hindsight, not that much of a choice at all now, is it… Since the last weekend had still been warm and very Postcard-Shot Golden September’y outside, I couldn’t get myself to pull out the heavy artillery in the Comfort Dish Department yet, so one of my never-fails-to-paint-a-smile-on-my-face Summery dishes seemed like the perfect pick-me-up. So without further ado: Enter the Magic Anti-Space-Time-Travel Sickness Remedy, my Salmon & Herb Crêpes for 2:

The Salmon & Herb Crêpes with Apples and Beets
4 Thin Herb Crêpes, at room temperature – If you’re not one of the lucky ones rocking a secret family recipe for a fail-safe crêpe dough, you can find my recipe over here in my Beef Wellington Recipe or my Mini Lamb Wellingtons & Cassis Sauce Recipe~
1 Handful of Arugula Leaves, carefully cleaned and woodsy bits snipped off
½ Precooked Beet, thinly sliced and patted dry with a paper towel
½ Crunchy Apple, peeled, cored and finely diced – Granny Smith, Braeburn or Topaz all work nicely
A Few Drops of Lemon Juice – stir them into a bowl of ice cold water to keep the apples crunchy and in their original color scheme
Opt: If you’re working with a lemon already, you might want to shave off a bit of the zest and use it to add some zing to the cream~
½ Bunch of Chives, very finely chopped
120g Smoked Salmon of your choice – I’d strongly recommend avoiding herb-rubbed/-cured or crusted specimen since the herbs generally used for these, dill especially, will clash with the herbs already used for the crêpes and this filling
2-3 Tbsp Créme Légère, Low Fat Quark or Fromage Blanc
1 Heaped Tsp Freshly grated Horseradish
1 Tsp Mild Dijon Mustard
Salt and Pepper to taste

1) Place the Crème, Quark or Fromage Blanc in a small mixing bowl and dot the surface with a generous pinch each of salt and pepper.
2) Stir in the chives, mustard, horseradish and the (optional) lemon zest.
3) Fold the apple bits into the mixture after draining them and thoroughly patting them dry with a paper towel.
4) Smooth out the crêpes in front of you.
5) Spread a quarter of the mixture out on the lower third of each crêpe, leaving a 1-cm-rim uncovered to make sure nothing is able to make a run for it as you roll them up.
6) Cover the creamy layer up with the arugula leaves – try to create a mostly-closed leaf-blanket of sorts to keep the beet from oozing any excess juice into the pristine green-dotted white of the cream.
7) Weigh the leaves down with the beet disks and top off the pile with the salmon.
8) Slide your thumbs beneath the bottom rim, use your indes, middle- and ringfingers to hold the fillings in place and firmly roll the crêpe up to the top – as tightly as possible without squeezing the filling out to the sides.
9) Place the rolls on a plate with the seam down as you work your way through the remaining crêpes to help them set in an easy-to-pick-up-and-not-make-a-mess way.
10) If you’re prepping these in advance, cover the plate holding the rolls in clingfilm and pop them into your fridge until the bell rings dinner’o’clock.
11) A bit of lightly dressed salad to the side and the world will slow down…

Enjoy~!

♥