Baked Salmon in Puff Pastry

On a recent shopping adventure to Costco, I noticed a beautiful  filet of Salmon in the meat department.  I love salmon.  I love it most at my local sushi joint, sake salmon, it’s like butter on the tongue with a sliver of fresh lemon…but I digress…

Tonight we are baking salmon in puff pastry.  Because of food sensitives we *try* to avoid onion and garlic most evenings.  Although this recipe is ideal for both, I did not use them – but go for it if your tummy can tolerate them.  Let’s get cooking.

Fresh salmon filet – deboned, I left the skin on, but that’s your choice
4 tablespoons of butter
1/4 cup of white wine
1/4 cup of fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon dried tarragon
1 2” piece of lemongrass, cut lengthwise
1 egg  – plus a little water  beaten together for an egg wash
~ 1/3 cup grated pecorino cheese
1/4 cup crumbled goat feta
1/4 cup pine nuts
2 thawed puff pastry sheets
Dash of salt
Flour
Preheat your oven to 350F.

On a clean cutting board or serving dish place a layer of paper towels.   Gently rinse your salmon, check for any bones then place on the paper towels and pat the fish dry.  Set aside.

In a small saucepan melt the butter then add the salt, chopped parsley, and cut lemongrass. When the butter begins to sizzle add the wine and tarragon, bring to a simmer then add the pine nuts.  Let this percolate for about five minutes then remove from heat and set aside to cool.

Next, prep your baking pan.  I used a large baking pan with non-stick cookie mat laid in it.  The mat was then lightly floured.  Set aside.

On a floured rolling board place one of your puff pastry sheets and roll out to a size longer and wider than your filet.  The sides will all need to be rolled to seal in the fish so make sure you have rolled the pastry enough to accomplish this later.  When you’ve finished rolling one sheet place this in your baking pan.

Now center your filet in the middle of the pastry sheet skin side down.  With a slotted spoon carefully scoop out the marinated parsley and nuts from the cooled butter mixture and scatter on top of the fish.  If your fish looks a little dry, drizzle some of the butter mixture on it.  No harm done, this will help the fish steam inside the pastry.  Next sprinkle your goat cheese on the fish, then the grated pecorino.  Next, roll out the 2^nd pastry sheet to fit the size of the 1^st one and cover the fish.

Carefully tuck the top pastry sheet around the fish, you’ll want a tight seal here.  Now take your egg wash and paint around the edges of the pastry.  You’ll be rolling the edge over twice and hopefully to the edge of the fish, so paint enough wash to roll this much.  If you have more pastry than needed, cut some off BEFORE you start to roll.  Once the edges are rolled up and close to the fish take a fork and press down the rolled edges for a tighter seal.

Finally, use the remaining egg wash to paint over the entire pastry for a nice golden appearance after baking. Make a 2″ slice in the top of the pastry to let out steam

We’ll be baking this for about 40 minutes.  The pastry should turn a golden brown.  I inserted a thermometer into the salmon and it was approximately 165F which was perfect for us.

Enjoy!