Recipe: Boquerones Toasts

Renee Erickson brings us a taste of Pacific Northwest cuisine on Good Food this week. She is the chef/owner of four establishments in Seattle, all with whimiscal nautical names: The Walrus and the Carpenter, Barnacle, The Whale Wins and Boat Street Cafe.

Her new book A Boat, a Whale & a Walrus includes some of her favorite recipes. She says that these toasts are an “excellent appetizer that requires very little preparation.”

Hear more from Renee on Saturday’s Good Food.

Boquerones Toasts

Makes 24

Butter, fresh horseradish, ikura

Prep Time: 15 Minutes // Total Time: 15 Minutes, plus time to make toasts

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold

2 dozen Baguette Toasts

24 deboned, filleted oil-packed boquerones (from a 7-ounce package), drained

1/3 cup freshly grated horseradish, from a 4-inch piece

3 tablespoons ikura (salmon roe)

Just before serving, use a cheese grater or vegetable peeler (or a sharp knife) to shave the butter into 1⁄8-inch-thick slices. Cover each piece of toast with butter shavings (they will look like cheese slices), then top each with 1 fish (2 joined fillets), a big pinch (about ½ teaspoon) of the horseradish, and a tiny pile (a heaping ¼ teaspoon) of ikura. Serve immediately.

Baguette Toasts

Prep Time: 10 Minutes // Total Time: 30 Minutes // Makes about 3 dozen

Sliced and drizzled with olive oil, then baked, simple baguette toasts are a staple in my kitchens.

1 baguette (about 3⁄4 pound)

1⁄3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Flaky sea salt, such as Maldon or Jacobsen. for finishing

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Using a large serrated knife, cut the bread diagonally into ½-inch slices. Arrange the slices on 2 large baking sheets, brush with the olive oil, sprinkle with salt to taste, and bake for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the toasts are blonde and crisp, rotating the pans once or twice during baking. (Toward the end of baking, if the toasts aren’t cooking at the same rate, remove the browned ones so you can let the others continue baking.)

Serve immediately, or let cool on a cooling rack and serve within a few hours.

*(c)2014 By Renee Erickson with Jess Thomson. All rights reserved. Excerpted from A Boat, a Whale & a Walrus: Menus and Stories by permission of Sasquatch Books. Photo by Jim Henkens.