The Puff Pastry
2C All purpose flour
1tsp Salt
2/3C Cold water
8oz Unsalted butter, cold
Feel free to use store bought puff to save yourself some time!
In a mixing bowl, combine the flour and salt.
Cut the cold butter into cubes and add it to the flour mix. Using your hands, work the butter into the flour until the dough becomes crumbly as the butter is uniformly the size of peas.
Add all of the water and combine until incorporated.
Lightly flour a work surface or cutting board, add the dough and press together into a rough square shape. It may seem dry but do not add more water, it will come together with every roll.
Lightly flour a rolling pin and roll the dough into a roughly 10” rectangle.
Fold the bottom third of the dough towards the middle, as well as the top third of the dough towards the middle. Use additional flour if needed to prevent the dough from sticking.
Make a quarter turn and roll until the same thickness of original shape.
Turn, fold, and roll the dough at least 7 or 8 times.
When done, wrap the dough is plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or overnight.
When ready to use, roll dough down to a thickness of 1cm.
The Crepe
3.5tbsp All purpose flour
140ml Whole milk
1 Egg
1/2tsp Salt
These little crepes are crucial for keeping moisture inside and keeping the pastry outside dry and crispy!
Place a medium sized non-stick pan onto the stove on a medium/low heat.
Mix all ingredients into a mixing bowl, combining thoroughly.
Once the pan has come up to temperature, use a non stick cooking spray to coat the pan.
Add enough of the batter to thinly coat the bottom of the pan.
Treat this like a delicate pancake, flip once the bottom has browned and the bubbles have nearly stopped.
Set cooked crepe aside and wipe the pan with a cloth before starting the next crepe.
The Duxelle
1lb Mushrooms, finely chopped (can be a mix or only cremini)
2 Shallots, minced
3clove Garlic, minced
1tbsp Sherry or Port (optional)
2tbsp Vegetable oil
2sprigs Thyme, chopped
Salt & Pepper, to taste
The key here is to cook out all the moisture in the pan before it gets into the wellington, this will prevent the pastry from being soggy!
Add the oil, shallot, and garlic to a large pan on a medium temperature and cook until translucent.
Add the finely chopped (important) mushroom mix into the pan as well as some salt and pepper.
Once the mushrooms have cooked down slightly, add the thyme and alcohol.
Continue cooking this on a low/medium heat until almost all of the moisture has evaporated.
Set aside to cool.
The Salmon
4-5oz Salmon loin, trimmed to resemble a cylindrical tube
1L Cold water
1tbsp Salt
We trim the salmon loin to the general size that we would like the wellington to be.
In a container large enough to hold all ingredients, add the water and the salt. Whisk vigorously to combine, this will be our brine.
Fully submerge the trimmed salmon into the brine, refrigerate for 1 hour.
After 1 hour, remove from brine and use paper towel to pat it dry.
To Assemble
Salmon loin, brined and patted dry
Mushroom duxelle
Prosciutto
Crepes
Puff pastry
Egg wash (2 egg yolks + 1tsp water)
Lay the crepes out so it is just wider than the salmon fillet, and long enough to where the salmon could be rolled twice over.
On the front half of the crepe platform, cover with a thin layer of prosciutto. Enough to where the salmon could be rolled once over.
Completely cover the prosciutto with a thin layer of the mushroom duxelle.
Place the salmon loin in the middle and at the front of the crepe/prosciutto/duxelle layer.
Working carefully, start to roll the crepe over the salmon, keeping everything in place. Near the end, start tucking the sides of the crepe inward and under the log.
Once it is tightly rolled, place onto a long sheet of saran wrap and roll tightly but maintaining its shape. Refrigerate for about an hour to set its shape.
If you have made the puff pastry, use a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface to roll out the pastry until you make a rectangle just wider than the crepe log and long enough to where it can roll over completely with a little extra.
Using a pastry brush, lightly coat the inside of the pastry with the egg wash. Place the crepe log just as we did with the previous steps, and tightly but carefully roll and encase the crepe log inside of the puff pastry.
Trim the large excess off of the sides but leave enough to tuck some in to enclose it. Trim the excess off of the length so there is just enough to cover the seam but still be underneath the wellington.
Wrap this is saran wrap like we did in step 6, and refrigerate for an hour to set its shape.
Pre-heat the oven to 350F.
Uncover the wellington from the saran wrap, use a brush to thinly cover the exterior with the egg wash.
Prepare a baking tray with sheet of parchment just bigger than the wellington (if its too large the sides of the parchment will fly up and stick to the sides of the wellington during the baking process).
Place the wellington into the oven, check for doneness at 15 minutes, we are looking for the pastry to be golden brown, quite light, and flaky.
Once cooked, remove and let rest for a few minutes before cutting open and enjoying the fruits of your labor!
Maybe practice this one before volunteering yourself for the next family dinner party..