Faumon Fumé - Carrot Lox

Here is a predicament:

You promise your pregnant bestie that if she has any unusual cravings, you will provide her with relief.

Then she tells you she hasn't really been having any cravings except for one thing.. Smoked Salmon.

This is one of the things on the list of NO's during her pregnancy because she's not immune to toxoplasmosis so can't have any raw animal products.

What do you do?

Well, I did promise her craving relief, and I do love a challenge, so I hunted down a few vegetarian versions of smoked salmon and mixed and matched until I was pleased with the result.

But it didn't matter if I was pleased.. I was only hoping it would pass her test.

So here I bring to you.. Faumon Fumé made with carrots steamed in smoky Chinese tea.

Ingredients

6 carrots, peeled and sliced into thin strips with a vegetable peeler

2 Tbsp Lapsang Souchong tea

6 Tbsp olive oil

2 Tbsp lemon juice

1 Tbsp maple syrup

3 Tbsp light soy sauce

1 Tbsp smoked paprika

1 Tbsp whole black pepper

1 Tbsp nori seaweed flakes

1/2 bouquet fresh dill

Directions

1.  Place the carrots in steamer basket and the Lapsang Souchong tea in the water to steam.  Steam for 7 minutes.  Do not discard the water.

2.  In an oven safe dish, place the steamed carrots and add the olive oil, lemon juice, maple syrup, soy sauce, paprika, black pepper, and seaweed.  Add some of the steam water (without the tea chunks) until just covered and cook at 180°C 355°F for 15 minutes.

3.  Remove and let marinate with the dill for at least 48 hours.

Your vegetarian lox are now ready to be served!

I served on toast with cream cheese, capers, and a touch of fresh dill.

So did it pass the test? 

You can tell it's not real salmon, obviously, but it replicates the smoky flavor and the texture is not too far off.  This is a great alternative if you can't have the real thing.

This passed with flying colors.  She was absolutely thrilled with the result!  Surprisingly, so was everyone else at the baby shower.. even those who wouldn't even touch smoked salmon with a 5 ft pole.