Zucchini Rolls with Salmon and Cream Cheese

I made these Zucchini Rolls for my Dad's 65th birthday barbeque. Everyone loved them. I got this recipe from The Culinary Chase. I have to admit when I first saw this recipe on Heather's blog, I was mad.... mad that I didn't come up with the idea first!! It was so simple and refreshing and original.

The recipe calls for smoked salmon cream cheese, but I used regular. I only made the change because I already had 2 tubs of regular light cream cheese in the fridge. I found that you have to slice the zucchini very thin to make sure that it stays wrapped around the filling. I have two vegetable peelers and one wouldn't cut the slices thin enough. I doubled this recipe and got about 50 appetizers.

On a totally unrelated side note, last night was our night to go out and play Ultimate Frisbee so for dinner I made chicken nuggets and fries for the kids (the frozen kind). They were unduly excited. I set their plates down in front of them and Marco, who's 4, is just sitting there politely...waiting. I say "it's OK Sweetie, you don't have to wait for me to sit down, I'm not eating tonight"... he says "but you gotta take pictures!". Cute.

Zucchini Rolls with Salmon and Cream Cheese

185g smoked salmon (flaked with a fork)
226g smoked salmon cream cheese (I used regular)
1 tbsp garlic, finely chopped
small bunch of chives, chopped
freshly ground black pepper
sea salt
extra virgin olive oil
1 zucchini (about 8 inches long) cut in half

1. Slice zucchini into very thin slices with a vegetable peeler. Lay out on a cookie sheet and drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Let sit for 5 minutes.

2. Mix smoked salmon, cream cheese, garlic and chives (reserve a small amount of the smoked salmon to use as garnish).

3. Place a spoonful of filling at one end of each zucchini slice and roll up. They should stay closed without a toothpick. Garnish with extra smoke salmon. Keep chilled until ready to serve.

source:
janetishungry.blogspot.com