Salmon Wellington
A twist on a classic, the salmon is wrapped with ruffles of filo pastry and stuffed with a salmon, crab and watercress pâté. Continuing our ‘no-waste’ ethos, this recipe uses all the trimmed salmon ensuring nothing is thrown away. This show-stopping dish is served on a bed of vibrant creamed spinach.
Ingredients
- 2 x 500g sides of salmon, skinned
- 50g crab meat
- 30g crème fraîche
- 30g watercress
- 5g fresh dill
- 30g cream cheese
- Sea salt and cracked black pepper
- ½ lemon, zest and juice
- 6 sheets filo pastry
- 1 egg, lightly whisked
For the creamed spinach
- 30g butter
- 1 small onion, finely diced
- 1 teaspoon garlic purée
- 400ml milk
- 30g plain flour
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 400g spinach
Method
- First, prepare the salmon. Sandwich the two sides of salmon together and trim them so both fillets are the same width and length. Keep the offcuts for the pâté.
- To make the pâté, place the salmon trimmings (approximately 50-80g), crab meat, crème fraîche, watercress, dill, cream cheese, a little seasoning and the zest and juice of ½ lemon in a food processor.
- Blitz until a smooth paste forms and all the ingredients are equally chopped. Spoon the mixture on the top of one salmon fillet and sandwich with the other, ‘skin-side’ facing out.
- On a clean surface lay out one layer of filo pastry with the long side facing you. Brush with a little egg before adding another layer of pastry. Brush again with egg and add a third filo sheet, half on the previous two and half on the surface. Repeat with the fourth piece of filo on the other side - this makes the square of filo large enough to wrap around the salmon and create a frill on top. Brush the top layer with egg.
- Being careful not to squeeze the pâté out of the salmon sandwich, bring the filo pastry around the sides of the salmon, fold in the ends like a parcel and ruffle the excess filo on the top. Brush the whole salmon parcel with the remaining egg (not the underneath) and carefully transfer to the roaster. Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden.
- In the meantime, make the creamed spinach. Melt the butter in a large pan and add the onion. Fry over a medium heat until the onion starts to soften, then add the garlic purée.
- Sprinkle in the flour to form a thick paste and cook for a minute. Gradually pour in the milk, whisking with every addition to ensure a smooth glossy sauce. Once all the milk has been added, sprinkle in the nutmeg and stir until a thick, creamy sauce forms.
- Add the spinach, turn down the heat to low and stir gently until the spinach has completely wilted.
- Remove the roaster from the oven and allow to sit for 5 mins. Spoon the creamed spinach around the salmon en croûte and take to the table in the roaster to serve* along with a potato side dish of your choice.
Leave a comment