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by Simon Gore

And easy alternative to prawn cocktail for a Christmas Day starter or a great canapé, the blinis can be made in advance and topped when you're ready to eat them.

Ingredients for about 15 blinis

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 50g plain flour

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý ½ tsp Baking powder

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 1 medium Egg

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 100ml milk

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 1tbsp vegetable (or other neutral) oil

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 1 tbsp butter

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Salt

For the topping

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 100gCrème fraiche

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 1tbsp finely grated horseradish (fresh of jarred)

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 1 pack smoked salmon

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 1tbsp caviar or lumpfish roe (optional)

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Dill

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Lemon juice

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Salt

First make the blinis. Whisk together the flour, egg, baking powder and a pinch of salt until smooth and free of lumps. Don’t over whisk; a hand whisk is actually better for this.

Once smooth, add the milk, a third at a time, until you have the consistency of double cream. You may not need all of the milk.

Heat a pan until medium hot but not smoking. Add oil and butter and when butter is foaming drop blini mix into the pan 1tbsp at a time in a clockwise motion. After about 1 minute, turn over the first blini and work your way around each blini in that clockwise motion. The bottom of each should be golden brown. After another minute, the first blini should be done. Remove and set aside until cool enough to top. You will need to do this in batches depending on the size of your pan.

Meanwhile whisk together the horseradish, crème fraiche and a pinch of salt (not too much because the salmon is salty). Dollop about 1tsp onto each blini followed by a strip of smoked salmon then the caviar and dill. When finished, squeeze a bit of lemon juice over at the last minute and serve.

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By Simon Gore

Dried or shop-bought tagliatelle will do, but if you really want to impress, make the tagliatelle yourself. You will though need a pasta maker!

Ingredients for 4

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·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 4 medium eggs

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 300g 00 flour

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 100g semolina flour

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Extra semolina for dusting

For the crab

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 4 medium eggs

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 300g 00 flour

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 100g semolina flour

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Extra semolina for dusting

For the crab

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Cooked brown and white meat from 2 medium crabs

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 2-4 cloves of garlic finely chopped

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 1 red chilli finely chopped

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý Handful of parsley finely chopped

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 10 cherry tomatoes halved

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý lemon juice

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý 2tbsp light olive oil

·ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý salt and pepper

Make the pasta. Mix together the egg and flour. Knead for around 5 minutes until smooth. If it feels too sticky, add more flour. If it feels too dry and is cracking, add a little water. Once smooth, rest in the fridge for ½ hour.

Once rested, the pasta can be rolled. Set your pasta machine to the widest setting (buy one if you don’t have one - don’t make with a rolling pin, it will take too long).

If you don’t feel confident rolling it all out at once, split the pasta into manageable chunks . Put the pasta through the machine. Fold over and repeat. Do this about 8 times until the pasta feels smooth. Again, if the pasta feels too sticky then add a little more flour and work into the dough.

Once smooth, reduce the thickness on the machine by 1 setting and put the pasta through (not folded this time). Repeat this, taking down the thickness each time. If the pasta is still sticky this time, dust with a little semolina. Keep reducing the thickness until about 0.75mm thick.

Now you are ready to cut into tagliatelle. Cut your pasta into a rectangle of about 10cm. Put through the machine on the tagliatelle setting. Take the strands in a group and hang separately on a pasta drying stand making sure to separate each noodle so they don’t stick.

To make the sauce, fry the garlic and chilli in olive oil until cooked but not burned (use a cheap olive oil for cooking). Add the cherry tomatoes followed by the crab meat. Once heated through, add ½ lemon juice and ½ the parsley.

Meanwhile, cook the taglatelle in 3 litres of boiling water salted with 3 tablespoons of salt. After about three minutes, the tagliatelle should be cooked and al dente. Check this by eating some. (there is a rumour that the pasta is cooked when it sticks when you throw it at the wall – this is a total waste of pasta and wall).

Once cooked, drain but make sure you reserve about 1 cup of the cooking water.

Add the pasta to the sauce and mix together, adding a little cooking water to loosen the sauce if necessary.

Serve with the rest of the chopped parsley, the rest of the lemon juice and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Buon appetito!