Name: Salmon en Croute
Ingredients: 1 lb fresh salmon, centercut; 1 store-bought puff pastry; ~10 oz fresh baby spinach; 1-2 tbsp very good quality olive oil; freshly squeezed lemon juice; ~2 tbsp butter; 2-3 tbsp all-purpose flour; 1 cup whole milk; 1 tsp fresh chopped dill; 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice; salt and pepper

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Salmon en Croute

Author: keriawilliams

Description

In 2018, Mr. Stone Soup and I took a barge trip down the Loire River in France. Our chef was named Mohammed, and he was a genius. Mohammed made food for 22 (plus his staff) in a space no larger than a walk-in closet that was kitted out with a four-burner stove, an oven and a warming oven.

At each of our stops along the river, Mohammed would hop ashore and get fresh groceries for our next meals. We ate like royalty, with each meal being better and more imaginative than the next.

One evening for dinner, our meal was salmon en croute. It was a sort of pasty stuffed with salmon, spinach, dill rice and a cream sauce. I am not good enough with the whole ritual stuffing puff pastry to be able to stuff that much stuff into a pastry, but this recipe is my homage to Mohammed's masterpiece.

It includes a piece of salmon topped with a dill cream sauce and cooked spinach. It was actually pretty easy to do, but looks pretty spectacular! I can see serving this for a small dinner party as a main course, or as a starter at a larger affair.

Instructions

About two- three hours before you are going to cook, removed the puff pastry from the freezer and let it thaw slowly in the refrigerator. Remove the skin and debone the salmon. Brine it in a solution of about 1/2 cup Kosher salt and about 3 tablespoons of sugar dissolved in about a quart of water. I usually brine a nice, thick center cut piece of salmon (1-1/12" thick) for 45 minutes to an hour. I always brine at room temperature. Our daytime temperatures here in northern California are so mild that I don't have to worry about the fish spoiling, but if you live in a warmer climate (or are at all concerned!), you should brine your fish in the fridge.
Preheat oven to 375*. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. When it is bubbling, but not browning, add the flour and incorporate fully. Cook for maybe 30-60 seconds, just to cook away the "floury" taste. Add the lemon juice and the dill to the mixture and let the juice absorb into the mixture. Add the milk slowly, whisking constantly. Continue to heat the mixture until it starts to thicken. Add more milk as necessary. You want the mixture to be fairly thick because it's going to have to stay put on the fish. Add salt and pepper (or lemon-pepper) to taste.
Heat a large skillet and add the olive oil. Swirl it in the pan. When hot, add the spinach, a generous squeeze of lemon juice and a generous pinch of Kosher salt. Using tongs, turn the spinach once (it's going to be splattering because the pan is quite hot, so watch out). Immediately lower heat to lowest setting and cover the pan. Let the spinach cook undisturbed for about 5 minutes. Just before you're ready to assemble the croute, wring as much excess water out of the spinach as you can (I actually wrapped it all up in paper towels and squeezed the water out that way).
Lay a piece of parchment paper onto a large cutting board. Remove the puff pastry from the package and roll it out slightly on top of the parchment paper. Remove salmon from the brining solution and press dry well with paper towels. On one side of the pastry, place the salmon filet.
Top with enough dill cream sauce to cover the filet, but not be slopping out over the top--you may have sauce leftover--that's ok--you can serve it on the side. Top the fish and sauce with the spinach.
Carefully fold the puff pastry over the salmon, sauce and spinach stack. Seal the edges and then lightly score the top of the pastry, taking care to not cut too deeply.
Carefully lift the parchment paper and place it on a cookie sheet. Trim the parchment paper if necessary so not too much is slopping over the edges of the cookie sheet. Place salmon in oven and cook for 30-40 minutes, or until the top of the pastry is a light, golden brown.