Smoked salmon and cream cheese. Made for each other and perfect partners for your bagel — whether you prefer a regular London beigel or the more recent interloper, the New York style of bake. 

But don’t save the salmon for your favourite bready roll. There are so many other delicious ways to eat it:

1. On a flatbread:
Joanna Nissim’s gorgeous-looking smoked salmon and beetroot flatbread pizza is heavenly topped with shards of salmon, slices of earthy beetroot and pools of lactic crème fraiche and a scattering of fragrant dill. Either make your own — as per Jo’s recipe, pick up a Persian barbari bread from a continental supermarket or buy ready-to-bake naan breads. It will all be gone in minutes. 
 

2. In a salad: 
I often mix slivers of salmon into a salad for some extra protein, but if you feel like getting fancy, Denise Phillips’s smoked salmon Nicoise is a brilliant idea. The French favourite is full of Mediterranean punch from capers, anchovies and olives plus mild and creamy-tasting new potatoes and green beans plus crunchy baguette croutons  — all working perfectly with the smooth salmon. And it looks stunning. 

Photo: Inbal Bar-Oz

3. As a dip:
Protein is one of the biggest buzzwords in the food world.You can’t scroll through a social media feed without seeing a protein-packed dish/menu/snack. Cottage cheese is also having a Tiktok moment. Lisa Roukin was ahead of the game when she created this smoked salmon and cottage cheese based dip with us in 2018. Brilliant to pack up for work and serve with crackers or in Little Gem lettuce leaves if you’re gluten-free or carb averse. 

 

4. In a Caprese salad with tomatoes and mozzarella:

As Jeff and Jodie Morgan suggest in their creative recipe for smoked salmon caprese with        endive you can easily swap out mild cream cheese for equally mild mozzarella. The Italian classic salad — which combines tomato, mozzarella and basil — works really well with the addition of salty salmon.

5. On a pizza: 

The restaurant chain, Cafe Rouge used to make a toasted sandwich with a combination of smoked salmon and Gruyere cheese that I adored. No surprise that my mouth watered at Clarissa Hyman’s unusual recipe for smoked salmon pizza, which is inspired by world-famous chef, Wolfgang Puck. Sweet red onions, dill and black olives complete the flavour explosion.