Lent Suppers - Puff Pastry Wrapped Salmon

A high school friend’s mom served a dish similar to this one but refused to share the recipe. I’ve worked on re-creating this over the years. Here is my take...

Ingredients:

• 1 sheet puff pastry dough
• 1/2 of a large whole salmon fillet, boneless & skinless
• 1 box frozen chopped spinach
• 1 can chopped water chestnuts
• 1 shallot, minced
• 1 T. olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 1 egg

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Thaw the spinach in a bowl in the microwave (start with 6 to 8 minutes). When thawed, take out a handful at a time and squeeze out the juice.

In a small saute pan, heat the olive oil. Saute the shallot, water chestnuts and spinach. Add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside to cool.

Thaw the pastry, about one-and-a-half minutes in the microwave. Roll it out with a bit of flour into a big rectangle about the size of a place mat.

Salt and pepper the salmon then plunk it in the middle of the pastry. If the fillet tapers to a point, you may have to cut off the pointy bit and put it over the bigger piece so that the salmon roughly becomes a square shape over the pastry. When the spinach mixture is cooled, spread it on top of the salmon. Wet the sides of the pastry and fold it together. Press gently to seal it closed.

In a small bowl, add the egg and beat with a fork. Brush the top of the pastry with the egg.

Bake for 40-50 minutes for a big Costco-sized piece or 20 minutes for a smaller 1-2 pound piece. Or if you have a quick-read thermometer, bake until the internal temperature of the fish is 140 degrees. Slice and serve warm.