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Salmon Wellington

Name: Salmon Wellington
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 50 min
Ingredients: 500 g salmon fillet (18 oz) ((skin off ideally)); 8 tbsp fresh dill (4 oz) (freshly chopped ); 1 pack filo pastry (or homemade wholemeal pastry at room temperature ); 1/2 tsp salt (kosher or pink Himalayan used for both spinach and salmon to season); 1/4 tsp nutmeg (freshly ground ); 400 g fresh spinach (14 oz); 3 cloves garlic; 40 g parmesan cheese (1.5 oz) (grated ); 1 med onion (finely chopped); 1 tbsp olive oil (or ghee); 1 tbsp sesame seeds (I used mixed (black and white)); 1 small egg (beaten ); 2-3 tbsp cream cheese (or heavy cream )

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Salmon Wellington is known by many as salmon en croûte or puff pastry salmon is one of these superb looking easy salmon fillet recipes that you can always choose to make and will not only please but wow any crowd.

Sectioned Salmon Wellington — **Salmon Wellington**

What is Salmon wellington?

Salmon Wellington is a savoury dish and consists of seasoned salmon fillet that is placed on a bed of cheesy sautéed spinach and wrapped into the puff pastry dough, gets egg-washed and lastly baked in the oven. The outcome is simply beautiful. It is one of those dishes that is easy to make for entertaining especially when guests announce their visit at the last minute.

Origins of salmon Wellington

The origins of salmon Wellington dates back to Tudor times in England (mid-1400s to early 1600s).

It was beef Wellington then - a fillet of beef coated with pâté and mushroom duxelles that was also wrapped in pastry and baked. It was a very popular dish among the 'upper class'. I am very grateful this beautiful dish was invented then so we can enjoy it today. Could we call this an English dish? We could, right? It was such a very clever idea!

Later this Wellington dish idea became a subject of experimenting with other types of protein that were a little more affordable and this is how it arrived at the salmon idea. Now, fish it's as expensive, salmon in particular. Again I am highly grateful they experimented then so we can have this scrumptious salmon Wellington dish and replace the red meat with which we all know it's good but we should only eat it in moderation.

What is mushroom duxelles?

Duxelles consists of finely chopped mushrooms, onions (or shallots), herbs (thyme or parsley) salt and black pepper, sautéed in olive oil or butter and reduced to a paste. Sometimes cream is added, and even a dash of Madeira or sherry for some extra flavours. It is delicious.

In this recipe, I just added the spinach with cheese but many times I add some nice chopped mushroom and that is beautiful too.

the ingredients needed for salmon en croûte

Salmon Fillet Look out for good wild-caught salmon, yes, it is pricier but it is so much better and nutrient-rich than the regular farmed salmon. It is also important that your salmon fillet is skinless. If the salmon is sold skin-on, ask the fishmongers to remove it for you.
Pastry If this is frozen it is important to take it out of the freezer on time to be at room temperature when working with it.
Egg wash It is an important one as it will make your salmon wellington look a real treat and a lot more attractive. Brushing will only take 30 seconds.
Spinach and creme cheese A combo made in heaven that cannot be replaced although I sometimes add chopped mushrooms too. These also help with keeping the salmon nice and moist.
Lemon Added as the last thing just before serving for a touch of tanginess, freshness, and much needed with any protein, seafood, in particular, acidity.
Seasonings. A combination of salt, pepper, nutmeg, garlic, to give the dish the ultimate to die for flavours. Thyme is also nice to add if you like.

How to make Salmon wellington

First, sauté the onion with butter or oil or ghee, garlic in a pan or in a skillet. Then add the cream cheese, spinach, and grated Parmesan.
Roll and cut the thawed puff pastry which should be at room temperature to avoid pastry to crack/break.
Place the lightly seasoned salmon onto the puff pastry, add the spinach mixture on top and fold the puff pastry over the salmon.
Transfer the salmon in the prepared (lined with parchment paper) oven tray, give it a good egg wash a sprinkle of sesame seeds and bake approximately 30-40 minutes.

what pastry to use for salmon wellington

If you want to challenge yourself with making your own pastry, absolutely, go for it! It is not the hardest thing at all! I do encourage you to do it! Homemade pastry can be made in several ways and phyllo pastry is probably the most challenging one to make at home. I do make my own pastry sometimes if I have some extra time and that is very rewarding as at least you know the recipe it's made from scratch.

FAQs

what to serve with salmon wellington?

Any vegetables are great like peas, broccoli, carrot, cauliflower, spring greens, collard, Swiss chard, grilled courgettes/zucchinis.

individual salmon wellington

You may also choose to make individual wraps with small fillets rather than a whole large fillet. You should not use more than 100g fillets as the wraps could easily turn into giant portions with a lot of pastry.

Make Salmon Wellington ahead

Making ahead this dish for easy entertaining is an option, here's how:
A few hours up to a day before:
Prepare it all like it's almost ready to make it to the oven just do not egg wash. Wrap it in cling film and store refrigerated until ready to bake. Place in a container or on a plate just in case you get some juices escaping. Egg wash just before going into the oven, a few hours later or the next day.
More than a day before:
I totally do not recommend baking it and then freeze, instead, get it all ready again, wrap in cling film and freeze in a container. Take out of the freezer, remove all the wrapping place on a baking tray, egg wash and bake in a preheated oven adding a 5-10 min longer to the original baking time.

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