A few weeks ago my cousin Tanya and I had a psychic family dinner connection, both thinking about the same kind of new preparation for frozen salmon: Wellington-style. She made it for dinner, giving us the first chance to test it, and it was fantastic.
A very Alaska-feeling cousin of classic holiday beef Wellington, our salmon Wellington is a little lighter and brighter, but just as gorgeous and festive. It’s perfect for the center of a holiday table, especially if there are pescatarians coming for dinner.
The coolest thing about this recipe: It’s pretty simple and easy. Our frozen salmon is portioned already, so we made two smaller Wellingtons, but this recipe works just fine with one fat fillet. We painted the fish with Dijon and butter and then layered it in pastry with a rich, savory mixture of cream cheese, spinach and lemon zest. A little brush of egg yolk made it extra golden.
Because it’s so rich, the per-person portion is a little smaller than you might serve if you were grilling salmon. One hack for saving time on defrosting the pastry is to look for fresh pastry dough in the refrigerated section, which is sometimes available during the holidays. I found mine at Walmart. Instead of Tabasco, you might also try Barnacle’s Bullwhip Hot Sauce.
Salmon Wellington
Serves 6-8
Ingredients:
About 24 to 28 ounces filleted salmon, skin and bones removed
1 1/2 tablespoons very soft + 1 tablespoon room temperature salted butter
1 1/2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 cracks black pepper
1 small white onion, finely chopped, no more than 1 1/4 cups
2 cloves finely chopped garlic
1 1/2 cups cups frozen spinach, thawed
1 cup cream cheese, softened
Zest of one lemon
Two dashes of Tabasco sauce
1 13-ounce sheet puff pastry; if frozen, it should be fully thawed
One egg yolk, beaten
Method: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a small bowl, combine the soft butter, mustard, salt and pepper, stirring until combined. Set aside. In a frying pan over medium heat, melt the rest of the butter and saute the onion until it begins to soften. Add garlic and saute until the onion is transparent and very soft. Turn off the heat, stir in spinach, cream cheese, zest and Tabasco until well combined. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool. Prep the pastry. Lay the pastry sheet on a lightly floured piece of parchment paper or a silpat and roll it out so it’s about a quarter-inch thick. If you are using a full fillet, you will want to work with the whole or most of the piece.
If you are using two pieces of salmon, you’ll want to cut the pastry into two rectangles. To assemble Wellington, if you are using two pieces of fish, spread 1/3 to 1/2 cup of spinach mixture in the center of the rectangle of pastry, shaping it roughly to match the contours of your fish. Use more if you are doing a full fillet. Paint one side of the fish with the Dijon mixture and then lay it Dijon side down atop the spinach layer. Now paint the other side of the fish with Dijon mixture and cover with 1/3 cup layer of the spinach mixture.
Wrap the fish in the pastry dough the way you might wrap a burrito, folding in the narrower top and the bottom and then wrapping the sides into the center. Pinch the edges together and then carefully flip the pastry-wrapped fish over so that the seam is down. Crimp the edges, if desired, and decorate with a fish scale pattern, gently pressing the edge of a measuring spoon into the dough. Repeat with a second piece of salmon, if you are using two pieces. Bake for 30 minutes, until the pastry is puffed and browned. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before slicing.