Salmon Wellington with Creamed Spinach

COURSE Main dish and a side

SERVES 4

TIME About 40 minutes

Cooking Tips:

1. The first time I made this dish, I completely underestimated how big the wellington becomes after baking, and ended up with twice as much food. It doesn't reheat well, as salmon dries out easily. 1 piece of salmon fillet serves two people.

2. This recipe uses béchamel sauce in creamed spinach. The béchamel sauce requires a lot of stirring as the sauce thickens, but it's only for a few minutes and totally worth it. There are many other versions of creamed spinach that would also work.

3. I found it very easy to dry out the salmon. The wellington will continue to cook even after taking out of the oven. I always like to error on the side of caution and leave them in the oven for less time.

Ingredients:

Creamed Spinach:

• 2 cloves of garlic, minced

• 1 Tbsp of olive oil

• 1 small sweet onion, finely diced

• 1 16oz bag fresh spinach leaves

• A couple spoons of water to keep the spinach from burning

• 2 Tbsp unsalted butter (for béchamel sauce)

• 2 Tbsp flour (for béchamel sauce)

• 1 Cup of milk (for béchamel sauce)

• A pinch of cinnamon (or nutmeg)

• Salt (to taste, I use about ¼ tsp )

Salmon Wellington:

• 2 salmon filets (4 - 6oz each)

• 1 sheet puff pastry (could be more depending on the size of salmon, softened to room temperature)

• Creamed spinach (see above)

• 1 egg beaten

• 3 Tbsp of olive oil

Directions:

1. Cook the Spinach:

   1. Heat the 1 Tbsp of olive oil in 4Qt sauce pan over high heat. Add garlic and onion and stir for a couple minutes until fragrant. Lower the heat to medium.

   2. Add spinach and stir for a couple minutes, add a couple spoons of water if the pan gets too hot.

   3. Stir in the salt, pepper, and cinnamon (or nutmeg).

   4. Remove from heat and set aside when the spinach leaves start to wilt.

2. Make the béchamel sauce:

   1. Melt butter in a small sauce pan on low to medium heat, until the butter starts to bubble.

   2. Slowly add in flour, stir constantly until smooth. Takes a couple minutes to stir. A whisk is a good tool to use for this sauce to help catch small flour lumps. However, a fork will work just fine.

   3. Slowly pour in milk, in small batches if needed. Stir constantly so that the sauce maintains a smooth consistency. The sauce will start to thicken in a couple of minutes. Remove from heat after getting to the consistency you like.

   4. Combine the spinach and the sauce. Voila! Creamed spinach is ready.

3. Make Salmon Wellington:

   1. Preheat oven to 425. Brush a baking sheet with olive oil and side aside.

   2. Open up a sheet of puff pastry. The salmon I got can usually fit on half of the sheet, so I cut down the middle to have 2 pieces of puff pastry and make two salmon wellington pieces. Measure against the width of your salmon fillet before cutting the puff pastry.

   3. Brush the top side of puff pastry with the olive oil and egg. Put the salmon on top of the puff pastry, and cover it with 2 - 3 big spoons of creamed spinach.

   4. Fold down the puff pastry to ensure that the salmon and spinach are completed covered inside the pastry. Dab the edges of the puff pastry with water and pinch them together to seal.

   5. Arrange the salmon wellington onto the baking sheet, and Score the top of the pastry with a knife, cutting shallow diagonal lines to create a crosshatch pattern.

   6. Brush with oil and egg on the top and sides of the pastry.

   7. Bake for 15 - 18 mins, until the pastry is golden.

   8. Slice and serve with the creamed spinach on the side. Each piece of wellington can serve two people.

Recipe Inspirations:

This recipe is inspired by multiple recipes and modified a couple times. The main sources are:

• Béchamel sauce for creamed spinach from simplyrecipes.com Link: https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/creamed_spinach_with_bacon/

• Puff Pastry Salmon from Tasty. There is also a video on this site that shows how to fold the pastry over salmon. Link: https://tasty.co/recipe/puff-pastry-salmon-salmon-wellington