Avocado Salmon Appetizer with Fishbone Hüppen

Preheat the oven to 170 °C fan. Beat the egg white with a pinch of salt until foamy – it does not need to become stiff, foamy is perfectly enough.

Sieve in the flour and stir until smooth. Finally, add the melted butter and a little grated lemon zest.

The lemon zest is not just decoration: it takes the floury edge off the batter and pairs perfectly with the salmon later on. Stir until the batter is smooth and glossy – lumps would later show up as dents in the thin layer.

Spread the batter onto the herringbone Silicone mat and work it into the cavities with the Spatula. Then cleanly scrape off the excess batter with a metal horn until only the mold is filled.

It is exactly this scraping that decides the outcome: if a film remains between the fish, the Hüppen will later stick together and break when you release them.

Bake them at 170 °C fan for around 10 minutes until golden brown. Keep an eye on them towards the end – as thin as they are, they go from golden yellow to dark faster than you would think.

Put the cream cheese, smoked salmon, the quarter onion, lemon juice, dill as well as salt and pepper together into the blender and purée everything into a smooth, creamy mixture.

Fill the mousse into a piping bag with an 8 mm round piping nozzle. That's not a luxury but the difference between "pretty" and "plopped on": with the nozzle, each of the eight portions gets the same amount and the edge stays clean.

Keep the piping bag in the fridge until plating – staying cold keeps the mousse firm.

Cut the avocados into small, as even as possible cubes. Place the rectangular cookie cutter (5.5 × 3.5 cm) on the plate, fill it with the cubes and press them down lightly. Slowly pull the cookie cutter up and away – this leaves a clean rectangle on the plate that gives your starter a solid base.

On top of it you pipe around 20 g of salmon mousse.

Cut the smoked salmon into fine strips, roll them loosely into small rolls and trim them to the right size. Set the rolls on the mousse – loosely rolled they look like little roses, twisted too tightly they look flat.

Carefully release the Hüppen from the silicone mold – they are thin and crisp, so take them out one by one.

Stick two Hüppen into the mousse per starter, one at the front and one at the back. This gives the plate height, and the fish bones stand up like little fins.

Finally, a few sprigs of fresh dill on top – done. Serve the starter right away, while the Hüppen are still really crisp.