Recipe: Raise a glass to the new year with shrimp toasts, delicous, creamy salad on fingers of rye bread

Serves 8

If you buy shrimp already cooked, which is widely available, you can pull this hors d’oeuvre together in minutes. It has its origins in Toast Skagen, a Swedish appetizer named for a Danish port in the North. Whisk mayonnaise with sour cream or Greek yogurt, and stir in lemon juice, dill, capers, and chopped shrimp to make a salad. Cut rye bread into wide finger-length pieces, toast them until firm, then spoon the creamy shrimp mixture onto the toasts and garnish with salmon roe. It’s a very easy, very delicious, nibble.

1	pound cooked, shelled medium shrimp
¼	cup mayonnaise
2	tablespoons sour cream or Greek yogurt
2	tablespoons lemon juice, or more to taste
1	tablespoon capers, drained
	Salt, to taste
1	tablespoon fresh dill, coarsely chopped
6	slices rye bread, cut into wide bands and toasted
1¾	ounces red salmon caviar or extra capers (for garnish)

1. Coarsely chop the shrimp so the pieces are about 1/4-inch.

2. In a bowl large enough to hold all the ingredients, combine the mayonnaise, sour cream or yogurt, and lemon juice. Stir well until smooth. Add the capers, a pinch of salt, dill, and the shrimp. Stir well. Taste for seasoning and add more salt or dill, if you like.

3. Just before serving, arrange the rye toasts on individual plates or on a platter. Spoon shrimp salad onto each one. Garnish with salmon roe.

Sheryl Julian