Balkanese Cucumber 'Baskets'

 Recipe from chef patrick

Ingredients :
For 4 servings :
1 nice cucumber, peeled, cut into 2 halfes (in its lenght), salted and drained
100 grams (approx. 3 oz) drained cottage cheese
1 plain unsugared yoghurt
1 small bunch of chervil
table salt, feshly ground black pepper
1 tea spoonful paprika
1 nice slice of smoked salmon
some salmon eggs (for the decoration)

Direction :
1/Get the 2 cucumber halfes soaked and dry them
2/Cut the smoked salmon into 16 small rhombus and keep the off cuts
3/Blend the cottage cheese, the yoghurt, the salmon off cuts, season with salt and pepper then add the paprika and the chervil stems and continue blending
4/Transfer the mixture into a salad bowl then add the leaves (keep some for the final decoration) of the chervil, roughly chopped and keep the mixture a little while into the fridge
5/Put the mixture into a piping bag and fill the cucumber halfes with it
6/Align 8 smoked salmon pieces (rhombus) on each cucumber half and top them with a few salmon eggs and one leave of chervil
7/Cut each filled cucumber half into 8 pieces with a knife and place them onto a nice serving dish for a nice small summer appetizer