Baked Salmon in Puff Pastry with Mushroom Duxelle - Fancy Schmancy!

The photo of this dish does not do it justice.  I served this delicious salmon dinner for our Christmas Eve Dinner.  I am just getting around to posting it because I wasn't happy with the final photo.  It's really hard to set up a good shot, when you have six dinner guests and all of us have been imbibing in some holiday spirits!  With Valentine's Day coming, it seems perfect timing to show you how simple and impressive this is to make.
I'm a big fan of Beef Wellington, but one of our dinner guests doesn't eat red meat.  I decided to make Salmon En Croute (or Salmon Wellington) using puff pastry.  Mushroom Duxelle is a traditional filling for these beautiful puff pastry dish, so let me show you how easy it is to make:

Cremini mushrooms are baby Portobello mushrooms.  I love their "nutty" taste-- even more than traditional white button mushrooms.  You need fresh thyme, shallots, butter and white wine.  Yes, I wash my mushrooms!  Alton Brown adequately proved to me, on one of his shows, that the mushrooms do not absorb a significant amount of water.  You can hand wipe them, but I take the easy route.  You need to pat them really dry.  Prep your shallots, by chopping them finely and you need to remove the woody stem from the thyme-- I love thyme, so I used about 1 Tablespoon of the fresh herb.

My food processor did a fast job of chopping the mushrooms, by pulsing them a few times. Melt butter in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add shallots and sauté until soft.  

 

Stir in cremini mushrooms and simmer for 7–10 minutes, stirring occasionally, allowing the mushrooms to cook down while their moisture evaporates.

 Add white wine (I used dry Vermouth), thyme and salt. Simmer for an additional 5–7 minutes.

 Remove from heat and stir in whipping cream.   OMG!!  I ate a few spoonfuls, it's so good!  Use immediately or cover and refrigerate. Makes 1 cup-- though I doubled the recipe. 

Now, let's make Salmon Wellington!

I paid around $30.00 for this gorgeous salmon filet.  I didn't weigh each slice, but I cut it into equal pieces-- which yielded 8 slices.   I thawed commercially bought (Pepperidge Farm) puff pastry, according to the package directions.  Next:

Cut puff pastry into four equal 5" x 8" (13cm x 20cm) sheets. Approximate measurements are suitable.
Spread ¼ cup mushroom duxelle evenly onto each sheet of puff pastry, leaving a ½" (1 cm) margin at the edges. Place a salmon fillet in the center of each prepared pastry, seasoning each with a sprinkle of salt.

These are my brother's hands-- who arrived to help me get the dinner together.  In retrospect, I cut the filets closer to 8 ounces, so there was little room for a seam to pinch together. No worries, we used a form to seal the edges.  I brushed an egg wash (beaten egg with water) over each pastry and baked this at 400 degrees F  for 15 minutes. Next, lower the heat to 325 degrees F  and bake for an additional 15–20 minutes until puff-pastry is flaky and golden brown.

I did make Tyler Florence's  Beurre Blanc Sauce to drizzle around each pastry, and I will blog that recipe later on.

The Beurre Blanc sauce gave a nice acidity to the buttery pastry and...

The salmon was very moist!  The kitchen was a little busy, and my guests were very hungry. So, the photos pretty much stop right here!   I will say that I should have cut the filets about half the size-- more like 4 ounces.  Most of us could only eat half-- but... the next day, I reheated the leftover Wellington's in the oven (not a microwave).  My son took his home, and he did the same thing-- we all agreed that it was delicious!

I froze the remaining Duxelles (I had about 1/2 cup left) and the Beurre Blanc Sauce.  Stay tuned-- because I reinvented some tasty treats with these.  This dinner was one of the easiest "fancy" meals I've made. Seriously, making puff pastry from scratch is a lot of work.  Buying it is a shortcut I have no problem taking.  I hope you try this, sometime.  The Duxelles... I have to make more of this soon.  It's delicious on crostini, phyllo dough or even as pinwheels with puff pastry. Yummy!

By the way-- I am just now feeling better after coming down with a wicked cold, on Super Bowl Sunday.  I lost my sense of taste and smell-- which means that I haven't been doing much cooking.  I'm finally able to taste again, so I need to get busy planning something special for Valentine's Day Dinner.  It's too busy for us, so we'll go out to eat when the restaurants won't be so busy.  I'm making something heart-shaped, and it's a first-time attempt for me. Hopefully, it will turn out well and I'll post it on Valentine's Day!

I'm off work until Tuesday...and I'm looking forward to some R&R!