You may have seen my smoked salmon and cream cheese canapes. Now imagine substituting smoked tanigue, retaining the cream cheese, and adding chopped cucumber and some finely sliced iceberg lettuce to the filling. Smoky, salty, subtly sweet with a touch of crisp leaves here and there. And the absolute creaminess of the cheese…
All sandwiches are made with bread and filling. The bread can be plain or fancy, leavened or unleavened. The filling can be anything from plain eggs to the fanciest concoctions borne out of really wild imagination. But not all sandwiches are created equal. And whether or not a sandwich is good has nothing to do with its being plain or fancy. Some of the heartiest and most memorable sandwiches are made with the most common ingredients and it is the combination of the ingredients that makes a sandwich either memorable or forgettable. This is one of those unforgettable sandwiches.
Smoked fish is fast becoming a permanent fixture in deli shops and the cold section of supermarkets. Imagine the lowly tinapa in gourmet form. About darn time smoked fish comes of age in this country. You’ll find smoke tanigue, smoked blue marlin and smoked tuna often side by side with the imported smoked salmon. An 85-gram pack of smoked tanigue (less than a hundred pesos) might not seem much but, believe me, it’s more than enough to make a substantial amount of filling. Smoked fish is so rich in flavor that you don’t need much to make a lot.
Ingredients
- an 85-g. pack of smoked tanigue (you can try smoked blue marlin or smoked tuna too), thawed
1 box of cream cheese (225 to 250 g.) at room temperature
half of a cucumber (about 1/2 c. after peeling, scraping off the seeds and chopping coarsely)
half of a small head of iceberg lettuce (after slicing finely, about a cup, loosely packed)
12 onion leaves
freshly ground pepper
Instructions
Finely slice the smoked fish, then chop or mince.
Finely slice the lettuce. Peel, scrape off the seeds then roughly chop the cucumber. Finely slice the onion leaves.
Beat the cream cheese until light in texture. Add the rest of the ingredients. Lightly mix everything together.
Toast some bread, spread the filling on one piece, top with another and enjoy.
Oh, before I forget, we tried this filling with warmed flour tortillas, quesadillas style, and they were great too.
Prep time (duration): 15 minutes
Number of servings (yield): Makes a cup and a half of filling
The smoked salmon is being thawed and I chopped the cucumber while watching my fave Pinoy soap opera.
Hopefully,we’ll get smoked tanigue here.
Thanks for this post.This is a good “baon”
for tomorrow.Ooopps,it’s 1100pm.
Miss connie, may i know which brand cream cheese you use for your dishes.. Is magnolia cream cheese ok, or philadelphia brand better?
Thanks and more power..
I’ll have to check when I get home. Am away for the weekend. The box is maroon though.
i think it’s the american heritage brand of cream cheese, the one with the maroon box =)
Hmmm, I can just imagine— aaahhh, let me just free myself from these exhibit preps— this is definitely one of those that I will be making first… Eh kung dory fish kaya?
Thanks again, Connie!
Basta smoked hehehe though I think dory is too soft.
sounds good. best thing to take my minde off thinking of a thesis topic. legal issue come to me!!
Thanks,Ms.Connie. I’ve just finished eating mine. It’s really yummy, i only made some difference,I didn’t sliced my lettuce ( jaw exercise,hehehe). We only have 3 slices left over bread so, I tried it with lettuce,rolled ala lumping shanghai,hehehe,sarapppp.
Thank you so much.
Been trying to eat healthy, but my craving for sweets and cream haunts me. This is a good recipe for me. Thank you