Foodie Friday Salmon Wellington

Salmon “Wellington” (prep. time 25-30 minutes.  Serves 4-6 )

1 lb. salmon fillet

1 sheet puff pastry, thawed

1 package baby spinach

½ C. whipped cream cheese

Salt/ pepper

1 tsp. dill

1 Tb. olive oil

Egg wash

Preheat oven to 375.  Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium high heat and wilt the salted spinach.  Set aside to cool.  Roll out the pastry dough to about ¼ inch thick.  Spread the cream cheese over the puff pastry, salt and dill on one side.  Salt and pepper both sides of the salmon and place the fish length-wise on half of the pastry.  Sprinkle the top piece with dill and cover with cooked and drained spinach (squeeze the moisture out in a paper towel to keep the greens from making the pastry mushy.  Trim one end of the fillet into a triangle and place those pieces on the other end of the fish in the shape of a tail.  Fold the pastry over the salmon and shape it to look like a fish, pinching together the tail and head and forming a fin where the pastry sides meet.  Use a bottle cap or tip of a small spoon to imprint “scales” and press a caper into the “head” to make an eye or just make an indentation for the eye. Put your creation on parchment paper on an oven-proof rack and brush with egg wash to aid in browning.  Bake about 25-30 minutes until the pastry is crisp and brown. (I suggest the baking rack so the oven heat circulates the whole fish, top and bottom)