Blinis Demidoff
Reconstructed
Serve when
Send them out as the Veuve Clicquot is poured and the first guest, against every intention, lets a small sound of pleasure escape.
In the movie
Theatrical
- The second course of the feast — small buckwheat blinis crowned with caviar and sour cream, carried out as the Champagne is poured. The congregation, sworn to indifference, begins to soften despite itself.
Ingredients
Steps
- Warm the milk to just above body temperature and stir in the yeast. Let it foam, about 10 minutes.
- Whisk both flours and the salt together. Beat in the milk mixture, egg yolks, and melted butter to a smooth batter. Cover and let rise in a warm spot until bubbly and risen, about 1 hour.
- Whip the egg whites to soft peaks and fold them gently into the risen batter.
- Heat a little butter in a skillet over medium. Drop in tablespoons of batter to make silver-dollar blinis. Cook until bubbles break the surface, flip, and cook until golden. Keep warm.
- Top each warm blini with a small spoon of crème fraîche, a little caviar, and a few chives. Serve at once, three or four to a plate.
In the movie
The Champagne — Veuve Clicquot 1860, named at the table — arrives with these. It is the course where the pact quietly breaks: the villagers have promised each other to taste nothing, to feel nothing, and yet a bloom of colour returns to the room. Grace, in this film, works through the tongue.