Saturday, September 08, 2007

Fun with Salmon

I had some friends over for dinner last night and so I decided to cook something new. Now I know that had it been a disaster I would have been screwed, but some of these dishes are expensive and I'm not buying the same ingredients twice! Besides if the worst came to pass we could just go to the pizza place around the corner and then drown our sorrows in dessert!

So here is what I made: Salmon on Shitake Mushroom and Leek Risotto, en croute!


Step One - I made a leek and shitake Mushroom Risotto and allowed it to cool.


Step Two - Roll out some Puff pastry into 4 squares (I pre-bought the pastry, I may love to cook, but making Puff Pastry is a very long drawn out labor of love)


Step Three - Pile on the Risotto and place a salmon fillet on each pile.



Step Four - Fold the pastry up over the filling - it won't totally fit, but don't panic.


Step Five- Place another square of pastry on top - fold around packet and seal with egg glaze.




Step Six - Glaze packets with an egg wash and bake for 30 mins. (I put the packets on my Silpat to stop them sticking. It's an incredible invention and saves lots of clean up!)


Step Seven - Serve with veggies and a Dill Sauce made with Creme Fraiche, Clam Juice and White Wine.

Step Eight - Sit down, cut into it and enjoy!

It was a great meal - esp as I served home made sticky toffee pudding for dessert! The packets look impressive to serve but are really easy to do, and because the salmon is wrapped and surrounded by so much other food you can serve the cheaper farm raised salmon without people noticing that it's cheaper quality. BONUS!

7 comments:

Deidra said...

That sounds yummy to bad I hate sea food I am wondering if you could substitute the salmon for chicken.

choral_composer said...

I'm thinking you could substitue, but I would definitely brown the chicken in a skillet before you wrapped it in the pastry, otherwise it might not cook through.

Ginger said...

Gorgeous!

Anonymous said...

My mouth is watering after reading this!!! I'm definitely going to try this recipe, hope it turns out as well as yours. Do you have any other good recipes?

choral_composer said...

I have tons of good recipes - who are you? I can send you some.

Anonymous said...

I've cooked a similar dish with chicken, it's equally as yummy! You do need to pan-cook the chicken for a bit first, it's nice with roasted peppers & brie if you put a few slits in the chicken before wrapping it in the pastry!

choral_composer said...

Wow Delia Smith reading my blog? I'm honored.... how is the soccer team doing?