As a seafood lover, I can tell you that I don’t really care much for a cooked salmon. I like to eat my salmon raw. I’m surprised that my hubby actually feels the same way (another sashimi-maniac). I hardly cooked salmon (besides for Fiorina). You can probably find just few salmon recipes here, including this one I’m posting.
This recipe, salmon kulebyaka, which is a Russian festive dish, is an exception though. I challenged myself to make this recipe because I wanted to see how it turned out and how it tasted. Hubby took the first bite and told me that it’s a keeper. It really is. I like how it tasted. The butter, the salmon, the eggs, the dill-flavored rice all encased in a crisp puff pastry- that simply spells delicious.
With this recipe, here I started our journey to the other part of Europe 😉 with Polish & Russian The Classic Cookbook by Lesley Chamberlain and Catherine Atkinson.
SALMON KULEBYAKA
Ingredients
- 4 Tbsp/ 2 oz butter
- 1 small onion finely chopped
- 1 cup cooked long-grain rice
- 1 Tbsp chopped fresh dill
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 lb puff pastry defrosted if frozen
- 1 lb salmon fillet skinned and cut into 2-inch pieces
- 3 eggs hard-boiled and chopped
- 1 egg beaten for sealing and glazing
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 F. Melt the butter in a pan, add the finely chopped onion and cook gently for 10 minutes, or until soft
- Stir in the cooked rice, dill, lemon juice, salt and pepper
- Roll out the puff pastry on a lightly floured surface to a 12-inch square. Spoon the rice mixture over half the pastry, leaving a 1/2-inch border around the edges
- Arrange the salmon on top, then scatter the eggs in between
- Brush the pastry edges with egg, fold it over the filling to make a rectangle, pressing the edges together firmly to seal
- Carefully lift the pastry on to a lightly oiled baking sheet. Glaze with beaten egg, then pierce the pastry a few times with a toothpick to make holes for the steam to escape at several different places
- Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 40 minutes, covering with foil after 30 minutes. Leave to cool on the baking sheet, before cutting into slices. Serve warm
