Salmon wellington, or salmon en croute, feels like a really impressive dish to make, but it’s deceptively easy. Serving it with a lemony cream sauce sends it over the top, especially if you add the shrimp to the sauce. But with or without the shrimp, this is still delightful.
The rough puff pastry is a quick alternative to making the puff pastry from scratch, and I think the results are just as good. But store bought puff pastry will be great too, especially if you can find a type made with all butter.
It’s a great dish to serve at a celebratory meal or dinner party; the pastry makes the fish extra indulgent and makes a small amount of salmon go farther. Serve it with a lot of light green salad to balance all the richness and crusty bread or garlic bread to sop up any extra sauce.
salmon wellington
2 small salmon fillets or one large one
½ recipe rough puff pastry (recipe below) or ½ sheet purchased frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 pound baby spinach
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
1 large pinch chili flakes
2 tbs olive oil
½ cup cream cheese
1 tbs lemon zest
salt and pepper
Heat oven to 425°F. Sauté garlic and chili flakes in a large frying pan with olive oil over medium heat. When garlic is fragrant, add spinach. Cook until spinach is reduced in volume. Set aside to cool.
With a very sharp knife, remove skin from salmon. Combine salt, pepper, lemon zest and cream cheese. Roll pastry out into a square that is larger than double the size of the salmon fillets. Fold the pastry like a book to make a line halfway through the square. Spread cream cheese over the inner area of one side of the pastry, leaving a 1 inch area all around the edge of the pastry. Spread spinach over the cream cheese and set the salmon fillets on top.
Wet the reserved edges of the pastry with your finger and fold over the other side of the pastry. Press the edges together firmly. Use a knife to score the top of the pastry all over. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for around 20-25 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown. Let cool slightly before cutting. Serve slices of salmon wellington drizzled in shrimp sauce.
rough puff pastry
from Bake!: Essential Techniques for Perfect Baking
1 1/4 cups cold butter
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
a big pinch of salt
2/3 cup cold water
Chop one cup of butter into small cubes. Put them in the freezer.
In a food processor, combine 1/4 cup butter, 2 cups flour and salt. Pulse until combined evenly.
Add cold butter cubes and pulse twice very quickly. The butter will be in large chunks and not incorporated. Add about half the water and pulse very quickly again. Add more water if the mixture is still very dry. The dough will not come together or form a ball.
Dump the contents of the food processor onto a work surface and roughly squish together. Roll dough out into a rectangle, dusting with flour as needed to prevent sticking. It will be crumbly and uncooperative at first, don't worry. Fold the short edges of the rectangle into the centre so they overlap. Roll out again into a rectangle and repeat this folding (check out this helpful video to see how). Wrap the dough tightly in cling wrap and chill.
Note: this recipe make twice as much as you will need for one pie. Wrap extra tightly in plastic wrap and freeze for another use.
creamy shrimp dill sauce
1 tbs butter
1 clove garlic
½ cup white wine
1 cup heavy cream
¼ cup cream cheese
¼ cup lemon juice
1 big pinch chili flakes
Salt and pepper
½ cup baby shrimp
⅓ cup fresh dill fronds, roughly chopped
In a small saucepan on medium heat, melt the butter and add the garlic and chili flakes. Add white wine and cook for a couple minutes, until simmering. Add cream and cream cheese, stir until cream cheese is melted. Add lemon juice, salt and pepper. Cook until sauce has thickened. Remove from heat and add shrimp and dill.
