Stephen Jardine’s Salmon Wellington (with wine recommendations from Rose Murray Brown)
“This is my go-to BIG dinner dish. It can be expanded to feed lots more people but this version is good for 4. Crucially, it can be prepared the night before and kept in the fridge until you are ready to cook and eat. Most importantly, it works every time and people love it!”
Stephen Jardine, presenter, broadcaster and journalist
Stephen Jardine is a Scottish journalist, broadcaster and presenter. After ten years with STV, he went on to launch Scotland’s first dedicated food and drink media company, Taste Communications – https://tastecommunications.co.uk. Stephen is also now a regular presenter on BBC Radio Scotland and presents Debate Night for BBC Scotland and he writes a weekly column in The Scotsman newspaper and contributes to the Daily Record.
Stephen Jardine’s Salmon Wellington
Ingredients (serves 4):
500g salmon fillet
1 leek
Pack of mushrooms
Parsley
Dill
1 beaten egg
Packet of puff pastry
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.
- Melt a knob of butter in a saucepan and add and sear the chopped leek. Then add the diced mushrooms and cook over a high heat until all the moisture has evaporated. Stir in the parsley and set aside to cool.
- Dust a work surface with flour and roll out the puff pastry into a large square.
- Place the cooled leek and mushroom mixture in the middle and then top with the salmon fillet.
- Fold the pastry around the edges leaving the top of the salmon exposed.
- Sprinkle the salmon with chopped dill then brush the pastry with the beaten egg then place in the fridge for at least 30 mins before cooking.
- To cook, put the salmon parcel on a buttered baking sheet and pop in the oven for 30 minutes.
Serve with tender stem broccoli and a cream and dill sauce.
Rose Murray Brown’s wine recommendations
Salmon en croute with a creamy dill sauce needs a rich creamy wine.
I would normally suggest a Chardonnay from Burgundy. However, I recently discovered a fascinating wine which is actually a Sauvignon Blanc grown in St Bris in northern Burgundy between Chablis and Auxerre (the only place in Burgundy where Sauvignon is allowed to be grown) – and it actually tastes like a Chardonnay. SAUVIGNON SAINT BRIS ‘MOURY’ 2017 Domaine Goisot (£17.99 Raeburn Fine Wine, Edinburgh) comes from a fascinating C15 domaine now making superb organic and biodynamic wine. This Sauvignon is grown on limestone and fermented traditionally in vat – resulting in a beautifully fleshy, citric-fruited, almost spicy rich creamy white with a well-defined finish.
This dish would also match with a rich textured old vine Chenin Blanc from Swartland in South Africa or lightly oaked Sauvignon/Semillon blend from Margaret River in Western Australia. If you prefer red, a light Pinot Noir from France, Germany or New Zealand would work well.
