Kenai Salmon Recipe
Kenai salmon is a variation of a Scandinavian dish of fish wrapped in a pastry puff. I generally make this dish with fillet of Silver salmon but any good wild salmon will suffice. I've tried the pastry puff routine but find it too thick so I opt for filo dough sheets instead.
Recipe Information
| serves | SALMON PORTION |
COURSE | COOKING METHOD |
PREPARATION TIME |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N/A | Fillet | Main,Savoury | Bake | 30 mins to 1 hour |
Ingredients
- Skinned salmon fillet cut into about 5 inch squares, deboned)
- Filo dough
- Lemon
- Shallots very thinly sliced
- Salt and pepper (I prefer the three pepper mix but -ground black is just as good)
- Herbes de Provance: ( a good spice mixture especially for fish)
- Feta cheese (mild is better as it doesn't over whelm the fish but is you prefer the stronger taste you can use the traditional)
- Melted butter with some lemon juice added, some fresh chopped parsley is also a nice touch but not necessary.
Method
Preheat oven to 350 deg. Thaw the filo dough for about 2 hours and gently unroll. Cut in half, Very gently remove 5 sheets and lay on a piece of parchment paper (the filo is fragile so you have to work quick before if becomes dry. Cover the remainder with a damp towel to keep it from drying out). Place a piece of salmon at the corner leaving enough space around the edges to make a seal with the crust. Pepper and salt to taste. Sprinkle some Herbes de Provance over the salmon. Lay some shallots on the salmon topped with slices lemon and finally sprinkle crumbled Feta cheese over the salmon. Wet the edges of the dough with your finger and gently fold the dough over from the corner to form a triangular pastry, with a fork press the tines along the edge of the dough to form a seal being careful not to puncture the pocket. Carefully remove the pocket with a spatula and place on a cookie sheet (I always use parchment paper on the sheet as it seems to bake better). Cut two or three small slits on top of the pocket. With a pastry brush (heck, even a small paint brush will work in a pinch) carefully brush some butter mixture over the completed pocket. (About this time its time for a drink) Place in oven. Timing is by eye, you want to have the dough a rich brown color when finished. Every so often brush the butter mixture on top of the pocket till you achieve the desired color. When satisfied with the color gently check the salmon with a fork to check if done. In Soldotna we served with parsley new potatoes and a salad. A nice dry white wine goes well with this dinner. As a dipping sauce serve Sauce Kasilof which is a pungent white sauce.
