Because most of the meals I plan in a week are brand new never-tried recipes, I have frequent flops. I really do. It comes with the territory of experimenting with new recipes. But I have to say I haven't struck out once this week. That's amazing. As we gorged ourselves on tonight's supper my husband commented how it had been quite awhile since we've had a bad meal.
I've always wanted to try working with phyllo pastry, especially wrapping it around salmon. Salmon can sometimes have a soft, mushy texture, so I was excited to try it with the crispy coating of the pastry. The phyllo itself can be a tad tricky to work with, but to tell you the truth, it wasn't as hard as I had expected it to be. Keep in mind it has to defrost properly so it doesn't stick together. Follow the directions on the box, but defrosting overnight in the refrigerator is probably the safest way to go.
Recipe from Sandi Richard - Fixing Dinner
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Serves 4
4 salmon fillets
Salt & pepper
Dried dill
4 sheets of phyllo pastry
1/4 cup melted butter
Sauce:
1 tbsp cornstarch
5 oz chicken broth
1 tsp grated ginger
3/4 cup honey garlic sauce
2 tsp Thai sweet chili sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
Take the phyllo pastry from the fridge and let come up to room temperature while you get the other ingredients ready. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray.
Wash and pat dry your salmon fillets. Season both sides of fillet with salt, pepper and dried dill. Melt butter in a small container. Unroll phyllo pastry and take out 4 sheets. Roll the rest back up and place in a sealed plastic bag in the fridge for another use. Using scissors, cut the 4 sheets in half and set aside 2 sheets, one on top of the other. Cover the rest with a damp kitchen towel or paper towel (this is important since the phyllo pastry will dry out quickly). Place a salmon fillet in the center of the phyllo dough. Using a pastry brush, brush all the pastry surrounding the salmon with butter. Take the left and right side of the phyllo and wrap it around the salmon, then take the top and bottom of the pastry and do the same (it should look like a cute little package.) Brush butter over the entire phyllo sheet that is underneath and wrap it the same as the first. Brush the top with butter, sprinkle with dill and place on the cookie sheet. Do the same to the remaining 3 fillets.
Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. They will get nice and golden brown.
When the salmon goes into the oven, begin to make the sauce. Combine the ginger and cornstarch in a small saucepan and slowly whisk in the chicken stock. Place the pot over medium heat, and add the honey garlic sauce, Thai sweet chili sauce, and sesame oil. Let come to a rolling simmer and let reduce by half until the sauce has thickened. (Mine simmered for 15 minutes and was still pretty runny. I should have added a bit more cornstarch diluted with cold water to thicken it up...but I didn't.)
Serve the sauce on the bottom of each plate with a phyllo-wrapped salmon on top.
Click here for printable version of Phyllo Salmon with Honey Garlic Sauce
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THE RESULTS?
WOW. We usually eat salmon with some kind of dill/honey/mustard combination so it was really nice to have something different. The sauce is fantastic and so is the flakey pastry salmon. SOOOOOO GOOD!!
My sauce wasn't as thick as sticky as I would have liked it to have been, but it still tasted fabulous. A bit more cornstarch could easily solve the problem. This is going into my folder of favorite recipes.