When does Salmon en Croute become a Wellington. Or vice versa. Does anyone understand what I mean. Or care?
Whatever.
In the fridge I found some random ingredients and with the devil-may-care attitude of someone who has just got the kids to go to bed and 1 (one) nice big glass of wine inside me I thought ‘Sod recipes, lets do this one on the fly’. So off we went:
For Salmon In Puff Pastry (as I call it) you will need:
- Two salmon fillets (or more if you have them, we didn’t)
- One half kilo block of puff pastry
- A bag of spinach
- A punnet of mushrooms
- Half a tub of cream cheese
- Some parmesan, grated
- An egg to wash over the pastry
- Two big knobs of butter to fry the mushrooms up
- Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce (As they say if it isn’t Lea & Perrins, it ain’t Worcestershire Sauce. And don’t pronounce the shire at the end, that’s like calling aluminium, aluminum and that would not do)
Firstly simmer the spinach in a pan until it does that thing where it basically disappears and then strain through a sieve to remove as much water as possible:
Now finely chop the mushrooms up, the finer the better:
Get some butter melting in a pan and then add the mushrooms and cook until they too disappear (add a good dose of Lea & Perrins if you so fancy):
Where the hell did the mushrooms go? Meat does not do that. S’why I eat meat.
Now put the mushrooms in a bowl and cool. Add the cream cheese and parmesan and combine:
Set that aside and get the pastry out. Cut in two so that one piece is slightly bigger than the other (the bigger bit is for the bottom):
Roll out the big bit and lay on an oiled baking tray. Roll out the smaller piece so that is about half an inch smaller all round:
Now lay the salmon in the centre of the pastry and fill the gap with the spinach:
Next spread the mushroom mixture over the top:
Lay the smaller pastry sheet over the top and then lift the edge and brush some beaten egg around to help the pastry seal. Fold the pastry edge over and press with a fork to seal. Brush with egg wash and poke a hole in the middle to let the steam escape:
Bake in the oven for about 40 mins at 160 centigrade or until it looks like this:
Now lets slice this bad boy open and see what’s inside. On that subject I don’t get why people go to all the trouble of blogging their delicious creations but then don’t do a money shot of the insides – I have to know what is inside that tantalising pie, cake etc…
You might think that pastry could have done with a bit more cooking time. But you’d be wrong. Very wrong. That pastry is supposed to be gooey and moist on the inside (well in my world it should be anyway). This baby was served with leaves, tomatoes and a bit of mayo:
Now this was quite good. Again the diet took a bit of a battering, although I avoided the excess pastry at the sides. Honest.
Now this looks delicious. How many does this serve using your ingredients. Going to do it tomorrow for tea.
Much appreciated Tracey
Made it once for the family…..fabulous! Making it tonight for friends with a beurre blanc sauce.
Good luck hope they love it…
Do you ever use a buerre blanc sauce?
What is the sauce you have beside the pic?
its Hellmans Mayonnaise
PS my vote goes to “en croute”, because I believe the Duke of Wellington was a carnivore 😉
Salmon and cream cheese in puff pastry? Yes, I will eat that.
You are on the best diet ever 🙂
A materpiece! Definitely Salmon Wellington with all those mushrooms
Thats it – that’s the difference isn’t it – a layer of mushrooms (thought so but wasn’t sure)
I tip my hat to your expertise! 🙂 This looks amazing, and I can see the insides 😉
Yes the insides – we have to see what is going on in there…
Funny post as usual, but a good recipe as well. I like the combination of salmon with mushrooms and spinach. (I’d probably just use the bottom pastry and fold it over, and cook it for a shorter time at a higher temp, better for the diet.)
The diet indeed – i knew someone would pick up on that! To be fair i was quite happy with this one, considering my pear and chocolate debacle! And you’re right it did need a bit higher on the temp.
Wow, that’s quite the recipe to just whip up after the kids have gone to bed. What kind of wine was that, by the way? 😊 I’m not really invested in the en croute vs Wellington debate, I’d just like to have slice of that! And by the way, I really like the word ‘punnet’ which my computer just auto-correct 4 (count em) times to ‘pun net.’
I think i cheated there – we but punnets of strawberries (Wimbledon) and i knicked it for mushrooms – as for the wine – i couldn’t be sure but its usually Chardonnay!
Well for heaven’s sake, this looks totally amazing. I grew up on salmon in Nova Scotia. We had it every way including in biscuits, but Wellington is definitely my favorite and you did a fabulous job. Cooking with wine always makes me happy whether drinking it or incorporating it in a wonderful recipe, or preferably both. Yum.
Canadian wild salmon is the salmon to get over here – compared to our farmed Scottish stuff its a much darker pink and tastes totally different
Wellington or en croute, does it matter? It looks delicious and, in the end, that’s all anyone really cares about. Well done!
You’re right – its pastry and that can never be a bad thing
Where do the mushrooms go!
This looks incredible!! The salmon is so tender! Everything melts in the mouth I would say : )
I hope you don’t mind if I reblog your post on my reblog page?
No please do! Yes I managed to not over cook that fish its easy to do, no?
Woah!! On the fly? This is spectacular.. perfect for Christmas Eve (shhh, yes, Christmas is around the corner). I think this looks like a Wellington.. to my limited knowledge? By any name, fantastic!!
I think you’re right – as for Xmas – bring it on. But I need to go and get a tree – I threw last year’s artifical job away because it looked like Homer Simpson’s after Bart set light to it
By Gad! You are getting good at this.
A pretty awesome looking dish. Now wellington en croute would be fun…
yes cheers i still cant work out the difference
Must try this – it looks awesome! And glad you include inside shots of your food.
Thanks for noticing – its kind of deconstructed food when you pull it apart
That looks amazing
it wasnt bad
That’s a great creative. I love the combinations you came up with & since you made it all up yourself you get to call it whatever you want. That pastry looks just fine to me.
Yes its one of those dishes where you know what you are making because you’ve seen it before but you don’t go looking for a recipe as such
As usual this looks amazing! I will end up inviting myself over for dinner at yours if you’re not careful… 😀
Haha – so long as you like eating on sofas (we aren’t a sit round the table household except at the weekends!)