Sunday Supper: Salmon Wellington with Warm Rice Salad

Here’s a final Sunday Supper idea for 2020, and one I’ve been thinking and fretting about making for a while.

Why the fretting? Well, have you ever cooked salmon? If you have, you know how tricky it can be to do well, and how fast it can go from perfect to dried out. Wrapping it in puff pastry and baking it seems masochistic, really. If I were kinder to myself I’d have gone with a phyllo dough, but no, I was stubborn and wanted those flaky, puffy layers that only puff pastry can give you.

The problem though, is those layers take at least 35-40 minutes at high heat to cook in a Wellington situation, and 35-40 minutes at high heat sounds like death for a salmon fillet. But I still wanted to try! I glanced around the internet, and I’m not the first to attempt this. But for every other recipe I found, I suspect the pastry is undercooked. I’m sure the salmon was delicious, but that pale, golden colored pastry? After just 25 minutes? It’s not done. There’s no way.

I didn’t want perfect salmon and undercooked pastry, so I tried a few tricks that I think worked out pretty well. The first is rolling the pastry out pretty thinly, which helps give you enough to cover two stacked salmon fillets, which are a bit wider than the traditional beef roll. But rolling thinly also helps the puff pastry cook a little faster, which we want here. The second trick is adding a moisture barrier under the salmon, but something to add moisture on top of the salmon. The good news about a Wellington, is we are basically steaming the salmon here so it is hard to dry out completely, but I wanted some back up, and then somewhere for all the juices to go on the bottom. The third trick was stacking 2 fillets together to make a thicker cut of salmon. Finally, the last trick I tried was just packing in the flavor. The truth is, this is still salmon baked for probably 10 minutes longer than is ideal, so its going to be well done. That luscious, perfect salmon, doesn’t-need-anything-else-flavor wouldn’t be possible, so I layered with as much backup as possible, including garlic, preserved lemon, and the warm spices in baharat, a Middle Eastern Spice blend.

In the end, I did make a pretty good salmon Wellington! I would probably roll my bottom pastry a little thinner next time, and I made the mistake of wrapping the ends under instead of cutting off the excess. But the flavor was fantastic, and I didn’t think the salmon was overcooked. I happily ate all the leftovers, along with the absolutely delicious rice salad, with jewel-like dried fruits, sharpness from the shallot, and creamy goat cheese.

The dried fruits and warm spices are perfect for the season, just in a slightly unexpected way.

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Salmon Wellington with Warm Rice Salad

Serves 6

For the Wellington:

• olive oil

• 4 cloves garlic, minced, divided

• 1 quarter preserved lemon peel (reserve the flesh), minced

• 4 cups baby spinach

• 1 small shallot, minced

• 3/4 cup cooked beluga lentils, drained and rinsed

• 2-3 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves stripped and roughly chopped

• 3/4 tsp kosher salt, plus more, to taste

• 1 tbs baharat spice mix (see note)

• two, 1 lb salmon fillets, skin removed

• 1 package puff pastry, chilled

• 1 egg yolk

For the warm rice salad:

• 1 cup jasmine rice

• 1 1/2 cups water

• salt and pepper, to taste

• 3 tbs good olive oil

• juice and flesh of one quarter of a preserved lemon

• 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

• 1/2 tsp zaatar

• 1/2 cup dried cherries or cranberries

• 1/4 cup golden raisins

• 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

• 1/2 cup chopped parsley

• 1 shallot, thinly sliced

• 2 oz goat cheese

1. Prepare the wellington fillings: Heat a little olive oil in a pan over medium low heat, and add half the minced garlic and cook until fragrant, about one minute. Add the preserved lemon peel and cook another minute. Add the spinach, and cook just until wilted, another 1-2 minutes. Remove to a large plate to cool.

2. Heat a little more oil in the pan, add the minced shallot and cook 2-3 minutes, until softened, then add the remaining garlic and cook another minute, until fragrant. Add the thyme and the lentils, and cook, mashing the lentils a bit with the back of your spoon or spatula, until everything is dried out the lentils look like very chunky mashed lentils. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed, then set aside to cool completely.

3. Pat the salmon fillets dry with paper towels, then sprinkle with the 3/4 tsp salt and baharat spices.

4. Assemble the wellington: mix the egg yolk and 1 tsp water together in a small bowl. Roll the puff pastry as large as needed to wrap around the salmon. Don’t be afraid to roll it thinly, that will help it cook more quickly, which we want here. On the puff pastry, layer first the spinach mixture, then the salmon fillets, stacked to make it as even thickness as possible. Top with the lentil mixture. Bring one long side of the puff pastry over the salmon and brush with the egg wash, then bring the other side up and over that one. Bring in the short sides just over the exposed ends of the salmon, trim any excess dough, and brush with egg wash to seal. Don’t just wrap each end under the roll of pastry, you will end up with a very thick pastry bottom that will never cook (I say this from experience). Flip the whole pastry package over and brush the top with egg wash. Score with a sharp knife, then transfer to the fridge to chill for at least one hour.

5. While salmon is chilling, gather your rice salad ingredients. And heat oven to 425 degrees. After salmon has chilled for at least one hour, bake, 30-35 minutes, until the pastry is puffed and dark golden, then remove from the oven and let rest 10 minutes.

6. While the salmon is baking, make the rice salad. In a pot, bring the water to a boil and add the rice, then reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes.

7. While rice cooks, in a large bowl add the preserved lemon flesh and juice, apple cider vinegar, zaatar, and salt and pepper to taste. Whisk to combine. When rice is done, fluff with a fork and add to the bowl and toss to coat with the dressing. Add the dried fruit and pine nuts and toss, then add the shallots and parsley and mix everything together. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed, then crumble in the goat cheese and give a final toss.

8. To serve, slice the salmon Wellington and plate with the warm rice.

Sunday Supper: Sticky, Spicy Tamarind Ribs with Lemongrass Ginger Rice & Cucumber Salad

I don’t remember when it was that I saw a tamarind ribs recipe that made me sit up straight, sometime early on in lockdown. I also don’t remember where? Maybe it was in Bon Appetit, maybe it was the New York Times (tamarind + meat is obviously nothing new), but none of the recipes I went back recently to look for were the one. I’m not even convinced at this point that it wasn’t a chicken recipe that caught my eye.

Whenever or wherever it was, I did see a recipe that alerted me to this brilliant idea, which was to marry tangy tamarind with rich, slow-cooked meat. I made note and went about life. But recently, I realized I had a few tablespoons left of a tamarind paste in the fridge, and decided the time was now to make some ribs!

I don’t cook meat like this very often. I think I’ve made ribs once in the last 10 years, and so it felt a little dangerous to be buying a rack of ribs. Whenever I cook with cuts of meat out of my comfort zone, I always have that nagging thought that I could just as easily burn $20 in the oven instead of waste my time ruining a dish. But fear of the kitchen will not feed you, so I researched cooking times, and about 10 different tamarind, honey, and pepper-spiked bbq recipes before cobbling together something that I thought I could pull off. And anyway, if my ribs came out a little on the tough side, or unbearably spicy, who would know?

The happy news I get to report is that the worst case scenario did not happen, and I stumbled into a pretty spectacular Sunday Supper! The ribs were falling off the bone, the sauce was sweet but tangy and had a powerful punch from the habanero, and the sides were a perfect combo of cooling and starchy to tame the richness and the heat. It would be mean of me not to share.

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Sticky Tamarind Ribs with Lemongrass Ginger Rice & Cucumber Salad

This recipe makes one full rack of ribs, but the amounts are easily doubled if you wish to make more ribs. The recipe has a lot of down time, but a bit of a scramble at the end to get the sides finished alongside the meat. If you wish, you could finish the ribs off first, then keep in a low oven while you give the rice and salad your full attention.

For the ribs:

• 1 rack baby back ribs (about 2 lbs)

• 1 tsp kosher salt

• fresh ground black pepper

• 1 inch ginger, peeled and minced

• 1/2 orange, juiced

• 1 tbs soy sauce

• 1-2 habanero chiles (to taste)

• 2 tbs apple cider vinegar

• 2 tbs tamarind concentrate

• 3 tbs honey

• 1 clove garlic, minced

• 1 tbs tomato paste

For the Cucumber Salad (adapted from Bon Appetit):

• 6 persian cucumbers, thinly sliced

• 1/2 large red onion or 1 small red onion, thinly sliced

• 1 serrano chili, thinly sliced (optional)

• juice from 2 limes

• good pinch of kosher salt

• cilantro, for garnish

Ginger Lemongrass Rice:

• 1 cup jasmine rice

• 1 lemongrass stalk, bruised and cut into 1 inch pieces

• 1/2 inch piece ginger, cut lengthwise into pieces

1. Start the ribs. Heat oven to 275 degrees. Place the ribs on a rimmed baking sheet lined with foil, and sprinkle both sides with the salt and a few good grinds of pepper. Bake ribs, meaty side up, for 2 1/2 hours, or until tender.

2. Meanwhile, in a blender or food processor, add the ginger, orange juice, soy sauce, chilis, vinegar, tamarind, honey, garlic, and tomato paste or ketchup and puree until smooth. Taste and adjust as needed for salt, sweetness, and acidity. Transfer to a small pot and simmer over medium heat until thick and glossy, about 5 minutes. Set aside.

3. Once ribs are tender, increase oven temperature to 400 degrees. Brush liberally with the sauce and bake, bony side up, for 10 minutes, or until nice and browned. While ribs are baking, start the rice: add all ingredients to a pot with 1 1/2 cups water, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook 15 minutes.

4. Rotate ribs to meaty side, brush liberally with more sauce, then bake another 5 minutes. Brush again, then bake 5 minutes more. Remove to a cutting board and let rest 5-10 minutes.

5. Remove rice from heat and let sit, covered, for 10 minutes, then fluff with a fork. Make the cucumber salad: in a bowl, combine the cucumber, onion, serrano, and lime juice with a good pinch of salt and toss to combine. Taste and adjust salt if needed, then garnish with cilantro.

6. To serve, cut the ribs apart, and serve with rice and salad.

Notes:

• Tamarind paste, or concentrate can probably be found in the Asian food aisle of your grocery store, or it is widely available online if not.

• To bruise the lemongrass stalk, give it a good whack or two with a rolling pin or something heavy.

Sunday Supper: Pelmeni with Lamb, Yogurt, and Tomato Butter

I’ve got a fun Sunday project!

You could do this on any day of the week really, but these dumplings are a multi-step process that to me, sounds like an ideal way to spend a lazy Sunday, making each component in an unhurried way, slowly working your way to a pre-Monday supper.

What we’ve got here are pelmeni, those little Russian dumplings that can be filled with either meat or vegetables, or even sweet cheese for a dessert. The surprising information I have to admit is that before I made these, I’d never actually eaten pelmeni! I’ve only read about them, my mouth watering at the very idea of them, and imagining taking my dumpling obsession beyond dim sum to Siberia.

Thanks to that obsession, I put the Kachka cookbook on my wish list last year, and my friend Ginny bought it for my birthday. I immediately bought myself a pelmenista, or pelmeni shaper, but then both sat unused for over a year. That’s the way it tends to go in my kitchen. I’m always meaning to get to a certain project, but it can take time, as I balance my desire to cook everything with the limitations of only having to feed one person. But then I realized, um, these are perfectly freezable, so what was I waiting for? I wouldn’t have to eat over 100 dumplings in one go!

You might be wondering why I can’t just feed these to my friends? I would, but unfortunately the two friends who live closest to me, and are therefore available for a last-minute dumpling party, both have an aversion to lamb dumplings brought on by a truly horrific encounter with lamb dim sum a few years ago. I haven’t been able to convince them to give ground lamb another try since.

And I really, really wanted to make lamb for these! Because the other dumpling obsession I’ve been nurturing is Turkish manti, teeny, tiny meat-filled dumplings served in a tomato sauce with tons of flavor. I had a version in Sydney that may have been filled with short rib if I’m remembering correctly, but I knew they are traditionally made with lamb, and so in my head, if I was going to make manti, I was going to make them with lamb.

But have I mentioned how tiny manti are? I mean, I’m here trying to convince you to make these already small-ish dumplings, but I’m not sure I can even convince myself to make manti, they are so intricate and baby sized. So I started thinking about a sort of cheater’s version, and I remembered that pelmeni mold collecting dust in my closet.

And ta da! I have the manti flavors I wanted, brought to me by way of Russian innovation and inspiration. The final result is delicious! Rich, lamb-filled dumplings swimming in flavorful butter and yogurt, and topped with a shower of mint to lighten everything up and add a bit of freshness. These dumplings are indulgent, but worth it, in my opinion, and I have a stash in my freezer that will keep giving until I’m ready to try my hand at real, doll-sized manti.

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Manti-Style Dumplings

Dumpling dough and filling adapted from Kachka. Tomato butter and yogurt recipes adapted from Food & Wine.

For the dumpling dough:

• 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

• 1 tbs kosher salt

• 1 egg

• 3/4 cup plus 2 tbs cold water

For the Garlic Yogurt:

• 1 cup plain yogurt

• 1 /2 tsp grated garlic

• kosher salt, to taste

• milk or water, if needed, for thinning

For the Tomato Butter:

• 4 tbs salted butter

• 2 tbs tomato sauce

• 1 tsp smoked paprika

For the lamb filling:

• 1 lb ground lamb

• 1/2 large or 1 small onion, grated

• slightly less than 1/2 cup cold water (100 ml)

• 2 tsp kosher salt

• 1/4 tsp pepper

• 1 tbs dried parsley

For serving:

• Crushed red pepper

• fresh mint

1. Make the dumpling dough: In the bowl of a mixer, add the flour and salt. Using a dough hook, stir the flour and salt together on low speed. Add the egg, and while the mixer is running, slowly add in the water. Stir on low speed until the dough starts to come together, then knead on medium speed for 10 minutes, until the dough consistency is smooth and elastic (if kneading by hand, this will take about double the time). Turn out dough and wrap in plastic, then let rest for at least 1 hour at room temperature.

2. While dough is resting, prepare everything else. Make the garlic yogurt: combine all the ingredients in a small bowl and stir to combine. Taste and adjust salt as needed, and thin out with a little milk or water if the yogurt seems especially thick. You don’t want it too thin but you want to be able to drizzle it onto the dumplings instead of plop it.

3. Make the tomato butter by adding all the ingredients in a small sauce pan over medium-low heat, and whisk while the butter melts, until a smooth sauce forms. Set aside, keeping warm on low heat, or transfer to a small bowl and refrigerate until needed. The heat from the cooked dumplings will help warm it.

4. Make the lamb filling: Place all the filling ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer, this time fitted with the paddle attachment. Stir everything together until it’s all incorporated and the fat from the lamb coats everything. The mixture should feel very sticky. This should only take up to a couple minutes, or slightly longer if mixing by hand.

5. Form the dumplings: when the dough has rested and everything else is prepared, you are ready to assemble! I used a pelmeni mold, but I’ve included instructions below for forming by hand if you don’t want to buy one. Divide the dough into 8 equal parts and roll into balls. Cover with a dish towel, and take one ball of dough. Dust your countertop and the pelmeni mold with flour, and roll out the first dough ball into a thin round that is slightly larger than the mold. Drape it over the mold and lightly press so you can see the outline of the mold underneath.

6. Using a teaspoon measure, scoop a teaspoon of filling into each little dimple. Once all are filled, roll out a second sheet of dough. Lightly brush the dough around the filling with a little water, and drape the second sheet of dough over top. With your rolling pin, roll across the top, firmly pressing down on the mold. This will push the filling down into the bottom dough sheet and cut out the little hexagonal dumpling shapes, sealing them in the process. It’s kind of actual magic. Transfer the dumplings to a floured baking sheet and toss a bit to coat in flour and stop them from sticking to each other. Repeat with remaining filling and dough. I was able to get about 112 dumplings, and you will have a bit of dough left over.

7. Once dumplings are formed, you can freeze them in a single layer on the baking sheet and then transfer to a plastic bag for storage when they are frozen. If you are ready to eat them now, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add the dumplings. For the molded dumplings, a generous portion is about 20. Lower the heat a bit to keep everything at a steady but gentle boil and cook for about 5 minutes. If cooking from frozen, add a couple minutes to the cooking time.

8. For serving, remove the boiled dumplings from the pot with a slotted spoon and transfer to a bowl. Add a generous amount of garlic yogurt and tomato butter, and toss everything to combine a bit. Sprinkle with chili flakes and some fresh, torn or chopped mint, and serve while piping hot.

Notes:

• If you want to make the dumplings by hand without the mold, it’s no more difficult but a little more time consuming, but similar to forming ravioli or potstickers. Divide dough into 4 pieces instead of 8, and roll out the first piece on a floured surface until very, very thin (think pasta). Cut into rounds with a 2-inch cutter, and fill each circle with about 2 teaspoons of filling. Brush the edges with water, and fold the edges together to form a half circle shape. Pull the edges together and press to seal into a tortellini-like shape. Follow the same instructions for freezing and serving, though you may need to cook a bit longer due to the larger size.