Frank's Salmon Wellington with Spinach Pesto

Ingredients:

• 100 gram (¼ pound) fresh salmon filet per person (Pacific salmon is less oily then Atlantic)
• puff pastry sheets (one large round sheet or one small square sheet per filet)
• juice from 1 lemon
• 1-2 tablespoons dill (dried is fine)
• olive oil
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• butter

For the spinach pesto:

• 2 cups chopped spinach, tightly packed (washed and stemmed fresh spinach, or 1 pound
• frozen spinach)
• to taste: 1½ tablespoon basil (dried is fine) or 1 cup fresh basil leaves
• ½ cup olive oil
• ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 3 tablespoons pine nuts or chopped walnuts
• 1-2 tablespoons minced garlic
• teaspoon salt
• makes enough pesto for 6 servings; leftover pesto can be saved, and used with a pasta meal.

Instructions:
For the spinach pesto:

• if using fresh spinach leaves: wash & stem the leaves, put the wet leaves in a pot (no extra
• water) and cook over medium heat until the spinach starts to steam (do NOT over cook!),
• drain very well.
• if using frozen spinach: thaw and drain very well (takes lots of squeezing in cheese cloth or
• paper kitchen towels!! spinach much be a big pasty lump)
• put the spinach, nuts, garlic, basil, salt in a food processor or blender
• pulse several times to begin chopping & blending the ingredients, then turn to high speed and
• pour in the olive oil in a steady stream. Blend until the mixture is smooth. NOTE: make sure
• that the pesto is not thin or runny at all, but a very thick spread!
• when the ingredients are pureed, transfer to a bowl and stir in the cheese.

For the Wellington:

• towel-dry the filets, sprinkle each side with dill and press-in the dill with your hand
• marinade the salmon filets for at least 30 minutes in lemon juice, olive oil (no more than half the amount of lemon juice), garlic, and dill. Use enough juice & oil to completely cover the filets.
• I use a zip-lock sealable plastic bag, put the oil, juice, garlic in it, shake, and put the filets in the bag. Turn over a couple of times to cover the filets completely. See photo below.
• preheat the oven to 175 °C (375 °F)
• roll out the dough sheets until they are about 1/3 bigger
• cut into strips that are more than twice the length of the filets, and wide enough to completely wrap the filet (with pesto on it).
• in the middle of each strip, spread a generous amount of pesto (about 1 cm high; ½"), the size of the filet. See photo below.
• put a filet on top of the pesto. If the filet is thin towards one end, fold that end over
• fold the ends of the dough strip over the salmon, and seal across
• crimp & seal the sides of the dough envelope
• turn the the dough envelope over. See photo below.
• brush melted butter on top
• preheat the cookie sheet in the oven (so the bottom of the puff pastry also gets cooked) 
• lightly oil the cookie sheet (I use a quick spray of PAM) and put the salmon envelopes on the cookie sheet
• bake for 20 minutes
• if not brown after 20 minutes, put briefly under the broiler (don't walk away!)
• serve right away, and (as always!!!) use plates that have been heated in the oven. 

[by Frank Dörenberg]