While I’m still working on perfecting my Not Ricotta Cheese recipe (all right, but what else do you call a ricotta cheese substitute made from cashews?) here’s a new recipe I tried for Valentine’s Day. I found the recipe on AllRecipes.com and I’ll list it as-is for you, but honestly I found that, although it was really yummy, it was very rich. I’ll add my suggestions below. Sorry no photo – I couldn’t find frozen puff pastry anyplace and made my own crust. But I didn’t have the right flour and it looked kind of ugly.

Salmon Wellington (4 servings)

• 1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 3/4 pound salmon fillets
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh basil leaves
• 1 teaspoon dried dill weed
• 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons crumbled feta cheese
• 1/2 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained (what? use fresh spinach! spinach is awesome!)
• 1/2 (17.5 ounce) package frozen puff pastry, thawed
• 1/2 egg white, beaten

Salt both sides of the salmon.

Mix the thyme, oregano, basil, dill, mustard and mayo in a small bowl, and spread on top of the salmon.

Sprinkle cheese over the mixure, then layer on the spinach.

Roll out the pastry and wrap it over the salmon.

The egg white is optional – brush it over the pastry for a glaze over it.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes. I’d poke a few small holes in the pastry so steam can escape.

 

This recipe is actually simple, once you have all the ingredients. This combination of spices is interesting and really nice – excellent balance for the salmon. I would say that the mix of mayo and feta makes it very rich, and if you’re dairy-free as I am, I’m not used to eating like this anymore. I’d recommend using either the feta or the mayo, but maybe not both. Or at least reducing the amount of mayo. Also, I used fresh spinach – I think the frozen kind has little flavor and it’s probably going to be soggy. Soggy pastry crust is bad.

I may try this again with some changes to make it less rich. And with different pastry crust. You can have this without crust, I think. But why?