by Brent Whitaker, West Pacific Seafoods | photo by Janis Jean Photography –
Salmon is a superfood – not just because of its high Omega-3 fatty acids, but also because of its versatility towards a wide array of delicious dishes for the food enthusiast and the everyday home cook to enjoy. I wanted to shine a light on three vastly different preparations using the same exact fish to explore the creative availability of a fish that might be overlooked due to its stereotypical tendencies.
*all seafood and specialty products listed can be found at West Pacific Seafoods in Brentwood Bay
SALMON WELLINGTON (3 lunch portions, 2-3 dinner portions)
Puff Pastry
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2/3 cups cold water
8 oz unsalted butter, cold
Crepes
3.5 tbsp all purpose flour
140 ml whole milk
1 egg
½ tsp salt
Duxelle
1 lb mushrooms, finely chopped (can be a mix or only cremini)
2 shallots, minced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp sherry or port (optional)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 sprigs thyme, chopped
salt & pepper, to taste
Salmon
4-5 oz salmon loin, trimmed to resemble a cylindrical tube
1L cold water
1 tbsp salt
To Assemble
salmon loin, brined and patted dry
mushroom duxelle
6 thin slices prosciutto
Crepes
puff pastry
egg wash (2 egg yolks + 1 tsp water)
Puff Pastery
- In a mixing bowl, combine the flour and salt.
- Cut the cold butter into cubes and add it to the flour mix. Using your hands, work the butter into the flour until the dough becomes crumbly as the butter is uniformly the size of peas.
- Add all of the water and combine until incorporated.
- Lightly flour a work surface or cutting board, add the dough and press together into a rough square shape. It may seem dry but do not add more water; it will come together with every roll.
- Lightly flour a rolling pin and roll the dough into a roughly 10” rectangle.
- Fold the bottom third of the dough towards the middle, as well as the top third of the dough towards the middle. Use additional flour if needed to prevent the dough from sticking.
- Make a quarter turn and roll until the same thickness of original shape.
- Turn, fold and roll the dough at least 7 or 8 times.
- When done, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or overnight.
- When ready to use, roll dough down to a thickness of 1cm.
Crepes
- Place a medium sized non-stick pan onto the stove on a medium/low heat.
- Mix all ingredients into a mixing bowl, combining thoroughly.
- Once the pan has come up to temperature, use a non-stick cooking spray to coat the pan.
- Add enough of the batter to thinly coat the bottom of the pan.
- Treat this like a delicate pancake; flip once the bottom has browned and the bubbles have nearly stopped.
- Set cooked crepe aside and wipe the pan with a cloth before starting the next crepe.
Duxelle
- Add the oil, shallot and garlic to a large pan on a medium temperature and cook until translucent.
- Add the finely chopped (important) mushroom mix into the pan as well as some salt and pepper.
- Once the mushrooms have cooked down slightly, add the thyme and alcohol.
- Continue cooking this on a low/medium heat until almost all of the moisture has evaporated.
- Set aside to cool.
Salmon
- In a container large enough to hold all ingredients, add the water and the salt. Whisk vigorously to combine; this will be our brine.
- Fully submerge the trimmed salmon into the brine and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- After 1 hour, remove from brine and use paper towel to pat it dry.
To Assemble
- Lay the crepes out so together they are just wider than the salmon fillet, and long enough to where the salmon could be rolled twice over.
- On the front half of the crepe platform, cover with a thin layer of prosciutto, enough to where the salmon could be rolled once over.
- Completely cover the prosciutto with a thin layer of the mushroom duxelle.
- Place the salmon loin in the middle and at the front of the crepe/prosciutto/duxelle layer.
- Working carefully, start to roll the crepe over the salmon, keeping everything in place. Near the end, start tucking the sides of the crepe inward and under the log.
- Once it is tightly rolled, place onto a long sheet of saran wrap and roll tightly but maintain its shape. Refrigerate for about an hour to set its shape.
- If you have made the puff pastry, use a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface to roll out the pastry until you make a rectangle just wider than the crepe log and long enough to where it can roll over completely with a little extra.
- Using a pastry brush, lightly coat the inside of the pastry with the egg wash. Place the crepe log just as we did with the previous steps, and tightly but carefully roll and encase the crepe log inside of the puff pastry.
- Trim the large excess off of the sides but leave enough to tuck some in to enclose it. Trim the excess off of the length so there is just enough to cover the seam but still be underneath the wellington.
- Wrap this in saran wrap like we did in step 6, and refrigerate for an hour to set its shape.
- Pre-heatthe oven to 350°.
- Uncover the wellington from the saran wrap; use a brush to thinly cover the exterior with the egg wash.
- Prepare a baking tray a with sheet of parchment just bigger than the wellington (if it’s too large the sides of the parchment will fly up and stick to the sides of the wellington during the baking process).
- Place the wellington into the oven; check for doneness at 15 minutes, we are looking for the pastry to be golden brown, quite light, and flaky.
- Once cooked, remove and let rest for a few minutes before cutting open and enjoying the fruits of your labor!
- Maybe practice this one before volunteering yourself for the next family dinner party … OR visit West Pacific Seafoods to see if any are left!
SALMON & CRAB (2 lunch portions, 1 dinner portion)
½ cup maple brandy candied salmon, diced
½ cup Dungeness crab meat
1 tsp mayonnaise
½ tsp maple syrupfr
esh dill
freshly squeezed lemon juice
salt
1 fennel bulb, shaved
½ tsp olive oil
- In a mixing bowl, add in Dungeness crab meat, mayonnaise, chopped fresh dill, ½ tsp fresh lemon juice. Mix thoroughly; add salt as needed. Place crab mix into your serving dish.
- In a separate mixing bowl, add in maple brandy candied salmon, ½ tsp fresh lemon juice, maple syrup. Mix thoroughly; add salt as needed. Place salmon mix on top of your crab mix.
- In a third mixing bowl, add in the shaved fennel, olive oil, a pinch of salt, and ½ tsp fresh lemon juice. Mix thoroughly, and top the crab and salmon with your fennel salad.
DRY AGED SALMON WITH RAVIOLI (2 lunch or dinner portions)
dry aged salmon steak(s)
1 leek, cut into 1-inch logs
250 ml fish or vegetable Stock
1 broccoli crown, cut into small pieces
100 g all purpose flour
2 egg yolks
1tbsp squid ink
salmon paté
pickled sea asparagus
rainbow trout caviar
- Place leek logs into a medium pot, add your stock, cover with a lid and place on the stove. Bring the liquid to a simmer over medium-low; cook for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside while in the liquid.
- Mix all purpose flour, egg yolks and squid ink in a stand mixer until combined. The dough should be firm with a spring and not tacky. If the dough is a little too dry, add another egg yolk. If the dough is a little too wet, add more flour.
- Cover the dough, place in the fridge and chill for one hour.
- Preheat the oven to 375°. Alternatively, preheat the barbecue to 500°. Also, place a medium pot of salted water on the stove on high heat.
- Season the broccoli with olive oil, salt and pepper. Transfer the broccoli onto a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet and place into the oven.
- Using a pasta machine or a rolling pin, roll the pasta dough to an even thickness of about one toonie thick.
- Add dollops of about 1 tbsp of salmon paté on to the dough. Fold the dough over itself and firmly press to close the gaps. Use a cookie cutter to cut out each individual ravioli.
- Season the salmon steaks, place into a baking dish and roast for 20 minutes. Or, grill on the preheated barbecue.
- Once the salted water has come to a boil, add in your ravioli and cook until tender. Remove from the pot.
- Creatively put everything onto the plate! Finish with pickled sea asparagus and trout caviar.
