Bruschetta with Smoked Salmon, Red Onion, and Creme Fraiche; Bruschetta with Cannellini Bean Puree, Truffle Oil, and Chives

A few weeks back, a Mexican chef interviewed by Lynne Rossetto Kasper on her not-to-be-missed weekly radio program, The Splendid Table, made a somewhat interesting comment. The gist of his argument was that recipes are really just the implementation of various cooking techniques. Therefore, home cooks would be best served by collecting techniques, not recipes.

One of the most simple, yet versatile, techniques for the fan of Mediterranean fare seems to involve putting a creative and complementary combination of any number of ingredients on toasted bread. The people of Pamplona call them "pinxtos" - a broad term used throughout the Spanish Basque Country for any number of small plates, many of which happen to involve good things atop toasted bread. In France, they are called canapes. And in Italy, of course, they are called bruschetta - the so often butchered Italian term which is properly pronounced with a hard sound, as if the "sch" were a "k."

Here's a recipe (pictured above) for bruschetta that I came up with over the weekend using some leftover wild sockeye salmon (the first of the season). The day before, I hot smoked the salmon with apple wood chips on the charcoal grill.

• Take one baguette and slice medium-thick slices on a long diagonal
  

• Rub each slice, front and back, with garlic glove and drizzle with olive oil

• Bake in 325 degree oven until slightly toasted

• Top with salmon slice, dollop of crème fraiche, sliced red onion, and snipped chives.

• Add cracked black pepper, sea salt to taste

• Drizzle platter with olive oil and serve

Yes, when it comes to salmon, you have to use wild sockeye. Nothing else comes close.

Needless to say, there are no end to the combinations. Here's another one that I made after picking up one of those super-expensive jars of sub-par black truffles from Whole Foods. The bruschetta turned out fine, but the truffles were definitely not worth the money.


The topping is a bean paste made from cannellini beans, minced garlic, and olive oil crushed and combined in a mortar and pestle, then spread on the toasted bread (as above except cut in rounds) and topped with the truffle slices and chives. The last touch is to drizzle with white truffle olive oil.