1 - Salmon Wellington

http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/641590#comments 

For those unfamiliar with the story of Phileas Fogg I will, dare I admit, paste synopses of the novel from wikipedia.  The story begins like this:

The story starts in London on October 2, 1872. Phileas Fogg is a rich English gentleman and bachelor living in solitude at Number 7 Savile Row, Burlington Gardens. Despite his wealth, which is £40,000 (equal to £2,648,577 today), Mr Fogg, whose countenance is described as "repose in action", lives a modest life with habits carried out with mathematical precision. Very little can be said about Mr. Fogg's social life other than that he is a member of the Reform Club. Having dismissed his former valet, James Forster, for bringing him shaving water at 84 °F (29 °C) instead of 86 °F (30 °C), Mr Fogg hires a Frenchman by the name of Jean Passepartout, who is about 30 years old, as a replacement.

Later, on that day, in the Reform Club, Fogg gets involved in an argument over an article in The Morning Chronicle, stating that with the opening of a new railway section in India, it is now possible to travel around the world in 80 days. He accepts a wager for £20,000 from his fellow club members, which he will receive if he makes it around the world in 80 days. Accompanied by Monsieur Passepartout, he leaves London by train at 8:45 P.M. on October 2, 1872, and thus is due back at the Reform Club at the same time 80 days later, on December 21.

So, we're in London.  I started surfing for traditional English recipes but was uninspired by many.  I had recently had a very good beef wellington at the Living Room in Milton Keynes and I wondered about the origins of the recipe.  Having researched this mighty dish I discovered that there are many stories about it and no hard evidence about it's name and origin however, many claim its' links to the Duke of Wellington and the following website links the dish to it being of English tradition:  http://recipewise.co.uk/beef-wellington-recipe  

I decided to use the wellington technique and came upon the following recipe for a filo salmon wellington: http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/641590#comments  which is fat conscious, attractive and relatively quick.  Please use the above hyperlink for the recipe and instructions.  

The supermarket had run out of watercress so I got lambs lettuce instead.  I couldn't get any fresh tarragon either so I bought the dried variety.  On reflection, I didn't need a whole bottle of white wine for the recipe, just a dash, but it certainly went well and I would recommend a crisp Italian white with this salmon dish.  

I bought Weightwatchers crème fraîche as it has 76 calories and 1.8g saturated fat compared with the reduced fat own brand version which has 169 calories and a massive 10.5g of saturated fat per 100ml - quite a difference!

I started by making the mushroom bit which was simple and smelt lovely while it was cooking.  I put the pan outside to speed up the cooling process before mixing in the crème fraîche.  I then unrolled the filo sheets and cut them in half giving me the 12 sheets that the recipes suggested.  One tip:  use spray oil to oil your work top before laying out the pastry or it will stick!  Mine stuck but I was able to use the broken sheet in-between two complete layers so it wasn't wasted.  I used fry-light olive oil spray throughout to cut down on calories plus it was easier and quicker than using oil and brush.  I left out the salt when seasoning the salmon.

I found that the film sheets didn't bunch together as I wanted so I used cocktail sticks to secure the parcels and these came out fine after baking and the parcels kept their shape perfectly.

The dressing required far too much oil for my liking so I added one teaspoon of oil and mixed in a tablespoon of the crème fraîche instead, adding a good squeeze of lemon juice as well and leftover mushroom sauce from the frying pan.

I did have to cover the parcels with foil as suggested after 15 minutes as they started to brown quickly. 

While the parcels were resting I cooked some peas and baby broad beans to serve with the dish and heated the plates.

The parcels looked so pretty when they came out; I would definitely serve this dish at a dinner party as they have the wow factor and taste delicious.  

I was surprised by the tarragon as the aniseed flavour was quite strong when I tasted the mushroom filling and the dressing during the process but it worked really well with the pastry and salmon in the end dish.  They were quite filling and the dish doesn't need any carbs although a hungry person might like some new pots with these or a chunk of bread.  I'm taking the two remaining parcels to work tomorrow but only have a microwave so not sure how their texture will bear up but the flavours will be the same and will surely be better than my usual lunch of soup-in-a-mug.

Well, that's my first recipe researched, cooked and discussed!  I hope you find the recipe yummy and my tips useful - let me know what you think.  I'll see you soon (assuming someone's actually reading this).

Enjoy your meal!