Salmon Wellington

We were invited to go to Goodwood races with an old school friend and we were to bring a picnic.  I felt that this had to be a high class picnic not just some sandwiches, a bag of chips and a couple of scotch eggs, so Jacky suggested we make something with salmon. Between us we came up with this idea for a salmon wellington.

2 shallots or one small bunch of green onion
1 clove of garlic chopped
1 tablespoon of olive oil
4 cups of mushrooms chopped finely
1/4 cup of chopped parsley
4 portions of salmon fillet
1 package of puff pastry

In a small saucepan sweat off the shallot and garlic in the olive oil until it is transparent, then add the mushrooms. Cook stirring fairly often until the mushrooms have collapsed down and all the liquid has been cooked out, about 10 minutes. Add a good grind of black pepper and some salt, I do think mushrooms like black pepper.

Planked salmon

I was lucky enough to have Friday dinner over at my friends who live in Summerland on the Okanagan lake.  It was a beautiful evening and we sat outside catching up and enjoying a glass of wine or two with Pat while her husband prepared dinner. The light on the hills behind their house was spectacular and I could not help but take some photographs.

My friend had picked up a beautiful fillet of sockeye salmon for dinner and her husband was going to cook it on the barbecue on a cedar plank.  He did this differently than I have in the passed, so I was interested to see how it turned out.

First he soaked the plank in water for about an hour then placed the fish on top and topped it with some lemon and capers.

Then he pre-heated the grill to 350 and placed the salmon on the top rack.  In the past I have always placed it on the bottom rack, which chars the plank and gives the salmon a smokey flavour.  But in cooking it further from the coals the plank will live to be used another day.