Chive Lemon Crème fraîche with brown bread & smoked salmon is a classic Christmas starter for all the traditionalists. It’s barely a recipe to be honest! Do yourself a favour with this one by serving it on a platter and let people help themselves. I always serve wedges of lemon with it, in case there are any purists, but the cool gently flavoured Chive Lemon  Crème fraîche really lets the salmon stand out as the star of the show. This is also a good duo with Burnt Lemon and Feta Dip.

Making your own brown bread really isn’t necessary, but if you’re delegating tasks or bringing this to a party where you don’t have to worry about anything else, this is the Brown Soda Bread recipe I like to use. I’ve used chive here, but finely chopped scallion or spring onion would work well too. I really like lemon, which is obvious in my whole Christmas menu, but what I like about it is that it can sit in the background pushing other flavours forward, or take centre stage. Here it is just a lift for the salmon.

This can be made the day before, so will save you hassle on Christmas day. Although, to be honest, it’s really quick!

Ingredients

1 teaspoon lemon zest

150 ml Crème fraîche

1 tablespoon finely chopped chives or scallion

Pinch of salt and pepper

To serve

Brown bread

Smoked Salmon

Wedges of lemon

Method

Brace yourselves. Mix the ingredients together. Done.

Serve and enjoy!