It is often said that “The road to success is paved with good intentions.”

I had perfectly good intentions to make a Smoked Salmon Tart for an upcoming party, but when I went into the kitchen and opened the pantry & refrigerator to get my “mise en place”, the fancy, French words for “Get your ingredients and cooking tools together, before you start the recipe,” I realized I had no cream and that my tart pan was already packed.

Then along came my trusty good friend, improvisation, and this recipe for Smoked Salmon & Bottarga flat bread was developed and then devoured at my party.

Serves 4-6

30 minutes Prep & Bake

Ingredients

  • 3 eggs
  • 1/4 cup half & half (heavy cream would be ideal as sub)
  • Sea salt and cracked black pepper, to season
  • 1 ready-made pastry sheet
  • 1/4 pound smoked King salmon (I had Alderwood Smoked), shredded
  • 10 kalamata olives, pitted and sliced in half
  • 1 thin slice of red onion, cut in slivers
  • 5-6 grape tomatoes, sliced in half lengthwise
  • 1/2 cup of feta cheese, marinated in olive oil with whole peppercorns & olives
  • 3 sprigs of fresh mint, chopped
  • Bottarga, shaved

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Remove the pastry sheet from the refrigerator. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  • In a medium bowl, scramble the eggs. Add the cream and beat until incorporated. Season the eggs and cream with salt and pepper.
  • Unroll the pastry sheet onto the lined baking sheet. Create a small lip (about 1/2 inch or more) around the pastry sheet as if making your own tart pan, which was my intention anyway.
  • Pour the egg mixture into the formed pastry shell and spread it evenly.
  • Arrange the smoked salmon, olives, tomatoes, onions and feta cheese on to the eggs.
  • Place the tart, soon to be flat bread, into the oven and bake 20-25 minutes.
  • Remove the flat bread from the oven.
  • Shave the bottarga over the flat bread using a microplane.
  • Sprinkle the chopped mint (I took the picture before I put the mint on it) around the flat bread.
  • Slice into squares and serve immediately.

Here’s a picture of sliced Bottarga. It is also more commonly called mullet roe, here in Florida.

What have you made when your trusty friend, improvisation, comes calling?