Salmon Wellingtons

Salmon is one of my favorite foods to cook and eat. I try to stay away from fatty foods, but salmon is the good kind of fat, which is good news! Cooked right, salmon is juicy and flaky. I love to Wellington mine (if I can use that term as a verb) for two reasons. First, I use very little oil. And second, I can prep it ahead of time and bake it later. I like to make this on the weekend because the prep time is a bit longer than most of my meals IF you make it look like mine. To save time (but lose presentation points), you can just wrap puff pastry around your salmon, or you can…

Servings: 4  –  Prep Time: 30 minutes  –  Cook Time: 25 minutes

• 3 four oz skinless salmon fillets (yes, 3)
• 1 diced onion or shallot
• 1 diced red pepper
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter
• 1/2 cup white wine (optional, can use chicken stock)
• 3 oz fat free cream cheese
• 2 handfuls fresh spinach (or frozen spinach, defrost and wring out all the moister)
• 1/2 cup fresly grated parmesan cheese
• Pinch salt and pepper
• 1 package (2 sheets) puff pastry
• 1 egg and a splash of water
• 1 lemon
• Rolling Pin
• Pizza cuter
• Shot glass
• Whisk
• Basting brush
• 2 baking sheets
• Parchment paper
• Toothpick

      

1. Preheat oven to 390
2. Heat the oil and I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter in a pot
3. Dice the onion and pepper and set aside
4. Dice the garlice and set aside
5. Sauté the onion and pepper until soft (but not fully cooked), about 5 minutes
6. Add the garlic and sauté for 30 seconds
7. Add the wine and cook for 1 minute
8. Add the cream cheese and stir until almost melted
9. Lower the heat and add the spinach
10. Stir until the spinach wilts, about 1-2 minutes
11. Take off the heat and let it cool
12. Defrost the puff pastry until pliable
13. Whisk up the egg and add a splash of water
14. Roll out the puff pastry
15. Cut one of the pastry sheets into 4 squares
16. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper
17. Put 2 pastry squares on each baking sheet a few inches apart and from the side
18. Put a piece of parchment paper on the counter and put the other pastry on the parchment paper
19. To make the fish scales, use a shot glass, at an angle, and make a line of half circle cuts into the pastry
20. Cut the pastry into a strip 1 inch below the half circle line
21. Overlap one slice and staggering the half circles
22. Brush on the egg wash and repeat until the entire pastry is cut
23. Cut the entire overlapped pastry vertically into 4 then cut the parchment paper where the cuts are
24. If the salmon has skin, place the salmon on a plate or cutting board, skin side down. Press slightly on the salmon and with a slow back and forth motion slice the skin off with a knife
25. Cut the small side off of the salmon (about 1/3 of each salmon) which will become the 4th Wellington
26. Place each piece of salmon (and the 3 small cut pieces) in the middle on each pastry squares that are on the baking sheets on an angle
27. Add a few spoonfuls of the spinach mixture to the top of each salmon
28. Cut 2 corners of the pastry on each salmon side
29. Fold up the pastry on each salmon side the the top
30. Get one of the lined scales on the parchment paper, and keeping the scales on the parchment, paper turn it over and place it on the salmon
31. Cut a small triangle off the bottom to make the tail
32. To make the eye, insert a toothpick with the eye should be and make a little hole
33. Brush the entire fish with the rest of the egg wash and push down the scales to round out the fish’s sides
34. Bake for 25 minutes

I paired this with a creamy sauce of zero fat yogurt, juice of 1/2 lemon, and fresh basil from my garden. Oh yea, this was a GREAT dinner and will be a GREAT lunch tomorrow.