Smoked Salmon Pizza with Caramelized Onions

There some people who have serious aversions to things that I love such as coriander and onions. These are two ingredients that I can't live without and that feature prominently in my day-to-day meals.

These 'people' to whom I refer to is actually a girlfriend of mine who also happens to be a vegetarian or more a pescatarian. She hates onions. especially when they are raw. She will go to great lengths to pick out the offending vegetable from her food and always avoids anything on the menu that may contain them.

For her birthday I treated her to a summer seafood cooking class. We went together and were eagerly anticipating the night's seafood bounty. You can imagine both of our silent horror when several of the recipes prominently featured ONIONS. I cast a sideways glance at her and she at me. We giggled and then both settled into a heavy silence. I said "um, maybe you can push them to the side" to which she replied sweetly, "oh yes, it'll be fine...I'm sure it'll all be delicious."

We watched nervously as the chef prepared the first dish, a smoked salmon pizza with caramelized onions. He dexterously peeled and sliced 15 large brown onions all the while chatting about the process of caramelizing the ominous mountain of onions. She gulped.

The time finally came to eat the pizza which consisted of the caramelized onions, cold smoked Chinook salmon, crème fraiche, capers and dill. My friend sniffed it and then tentatively took her first bite. Her eyes widened. She took another bite and then another. Finally she exclaimed “It’s delicious!” and promptly helped herself to another piece. It was a revelation and she hasn’t stopped talking about it since. While she may not be an onion convert, she certainly has a new-found love for the caramelized kind.

The caramelizing of the onions had evaporated that hot, pungent taste that I can see can sometimes be overwhelming for some –- but not me. The onions had been reduced to sweet jam that was the perfect balance to the salty, cold smoked salmon. The chef had made his own crème fraiche by mixing together cream and fresh buttermilk and then letting it sit at room temperature for 3 days.

All this was topped with capers and dill weed flowers, something I hadn’t tried before. The aromatic flowers are like tiny, yellow umbrella-shaped clusters that have a distinct lemony taste.

The pizza is best eaten at room temperature so it makes for an excellent party food. I cheated with the pizza dough and got some ready made at my local Italian deli 'Duso's' on Granville Island. I have however included a good basic pizza dough recipe that I've used before from epicurious.

I'm submitting this post to Weekend Herb Blogging being hosted this week by Diva from Dil Se.

Smoked Salmon Pizza Recipe
(Serves 4)

350 grams of smoked salmon, thinly sliced
4 brown onions, sliced & evenly
1/2 cup of sour cream
2 tbs of capers
Fresh dill
4 tbs of olive oil
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Sea salt

Basic pizza dough recipe

Method:

1. Slice the onions thinly and evenly. Heat oil over a medium-high heat in a large, heavy-based fry-pan. Add the onions and saute until a deep golden brown. This process will take about 25 minutes. Start frying the onions on a medium heat and then gradually lower the heat. Stir the onions occasionally and make sure they don't burn.
2. Pre-heat the oven to 300F.
3. Roll out the dough and then brush will a little olive oil on both sides. Place dough on a baking tray and then bake for 10-15 minutes. Bubbles may rise in the dough but just pop them once the dough is cooked.
4. Remove the pizza from the oven and then top with caramelized onions, and smoked salmon. Sprinkle on capers, dill and top with sour cream.
5. Finish with a squeeze of lemon juice and a sprinkle of sea salt.

Comments

[Meeta]

Salmon is one of my fave types of fish and have also used it on a pizza. Rucola added a great flavor but here I am loving the addition of capers. Yum!

[Manggy]

Hee! I have a friend who hates onions as well-- she likes them large in a dish so she can pick them out. If I chop it up, she won't be able to eat anymore! Caramelization is the best way to initiate them! I'm glad she liked your gorgeous pizza!

[Divya]

Different pizza recipe with interesting ingredients..Thanks for sending this in..

[Alex]

It's not even 9am and I am thinking about how good that would taste. Is that bad?

[Wandering Coyote]

Oh, I LOVE caramelized onions on pizza. I do it all the time and there's just nothing like it. This looks like great recipe, though; I'm always looking for new ideas for pizzas. Thanks!

[Lise]

I'm sure that your friend is very lovely. Very lovely indeed. You're quite lucky to have found her... And I don't think your friend talks about the pizza all the time. Perhaps just at lunch and dinner and snack time.

[Paula]

Oooooh, smoked salmon pizza! How great is that! I like the addition of capers here, as well as the sour cream and onions. YUM!

[Helen]

You know, I never thought to use salmon on pizza for some reason! It sounds and looks absolutely delicious, I will try it soon. I have no fear of onions, I may evern have extra!

[Tom Aarons]

Caramelized onions on pizza is an entirely new idea for me. But you've made it look so delicious, I think I'll be actively searching for it. :)

[Kevin]

This pizza looks and sounds so good! I like the use of the dill.

[[eatingclub] vancouver]

Lovely story about your friend's semi-conversion to onions. I'm always happy, if vicariously, to hear about food epiphanies and liking something that one thought one hated is big. Sometimes we just get stuck into a preference and it's good to be jiggled once in a while.

All of the above of course is just a long-winded way of saying Me Likey This Pizza.

[Kalyn]

Sounds just wonderful. I like all these ingredients, but dill is the herb of the summer for me, just loving my dill this year!

[SOoooooUP]

My children hated raw anions which I like to add to salads.

[Syrie]

Great idea Meeta. Rucola would be perfect. Next time!

Hi Mark, the next step is to get her eating some onion soup! Thanks for visiting.

Thanks for hosting WHB Divya! Looking forward to the round up.

Hi Alex, not at all! Are you kidding? I love pizza for brekkie!

Thanks for visiting Wandering Coyote. Hope you enjoy it.

Everyone...Lise is the onion hater! Your trying onion soup next, you hear me! tee hee.

THanks Paula. Yes I used sour cream instead of creme fraiche as I'm trying to be a little less of a cream eater. Watching that cholesterol.

Ooh Helen, Hope you like it. Yes pile on extra onions! Yum.

Hi Tom, I hope you try it and like it. Thanks for visiting!

Thanks Kevin. Yes it's my new fave herb.

Thanks eating club. Love your comment. I totally agree. She's having onion soup next!

Me too Kalyn. I especially LOVE the flowers.

I like to add them too, Soup. Maybe their tastes will change. I use to HATE dill but thankfully my dislike of it has vanished.

[Natashya]

This sounds like a great summer pizza. My hubby especially likes smoked salmon.

[valentina]

What a lovely friend you are. Such great gesture. I love when people are confronted by something that they 'detest'and ended up discovering that they actually quite enjoy it. It happend to me recentelyh with eels. Your pizza is a great recipe.

[Jude]

Elegant variation for the pizza. I love caramelized onions.

[Julia]

This is such an interesting idea. I bet it's delicious!

[Piedro Molinero]

Sounds like a very delicious pizza. I adore salmon in all variations so I will give this pizza a try soon. Thank you for sharing this recipe.

[Mike]

Nice job! Sure makes me want to make this pie and I will. I bake my pizzas on my Big Green Egg ceramic charcoal cooker to give it the real hearth-baked flavor.