Caviar Moons Recipes

CAVIAR MOONS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Brush bread with melted butter and cut out 40 moons. Arrange, buttered sides up, on a large baking sheet and bake in middle of oven until pale golden, about 10 minutes. Cool completely.
• Serve toasts topped with sour cream and caviar.

LEEK-AND-PARSNIP SOUP WITH CAVIAR AND BLACK-PEPPER CREAM

Steps:

• Make the soup: Cut a round of parchment to fit inside a large pot. Melt butter in pot over medium heat. Add leeks and a pinch of salt, and cover with parchment round (this will help keep moisture in). Cook, lifting parchment to stir occasionally, until leeks are tender, 10 to 15 minutes.
• Stir in parsnips, potatoes, chicken stock, 2 1/2 cups water, bay leaves, and 1 teaspoon salt. Raise heat to high, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer gently, partially covered with lid, until parsnips are soft, about 20 minutes. Discard bay leaves. Let cool slightly, about 10 minutes.
• Working in batches, puree vegetable mixture in a blender, being sure to hold lid down.
• Return soup to pot, and stir in milk. Reheat soup over medium heat (do not boil).
• Make the black-pepper cream: Stir 1/4 teaspoon pepper into creme fraiche.
• Ladle soup into 8 small bowls, and top each with a dollop of black-pepper cream and 1/2 teaspoon caviar.

FRIED SALTINES WITH CHEDDAR AND ONION

Steps:

• Slice the Cheddar in neat tablets slightly smaller than the saltines. Slice the onion into thin crescent moons (not half-moons), cutting from root to shoot ends so the ribs fall apart more easily, are shorter and, therefore, more manageable to chew and swallow.
• Heat the oil in a deep-sided sauté pan over medium-high to 350 degrees. Stick a wooden chopstick in the oil to see if it sizzles. If it does, it's ready. Fry the saltines in 3 quick batches, adjusting the heat as needed, using a spider or a slotted spoon to swirl them around a little and to make sure they cook evenly to golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes per batch. Drain on a wire rack until cool. They keep for a week in an airtight container.
• Set the crackers, cheese and onion on a platter to serve with mustard in a ramekin.