Salmon Coulibiac
This dish is inspired by the Great British bakeoff. Salmon Coulibiac is a Russian fish pie. This version uses a King salmon fillet. We are lucky enough to be able to fish for these in the Kasilof and Kenai rivers.
Salmon Coulibiac
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pound Salmon Filet skinned, deboned and trimmed
Puff Pastry
- 14 ounces flour
- 9 ounces butter - cold,
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup cold water
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
Savory Crepes
- 4 ounces wheat flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/3 cup milk - at room temperature
- 1 whole egg - at room temperature
- 1 egg yolk - at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon butter - melted
- 1 teaspoon dill - fresh, chopped
Filling
- 1/2 cup wild rice
- 1 cup water
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 small onion - finely chopped
- 8 ounces mushrooms - sliced
- 1 tablespoon parsley - fresh, chopped
- 1 tablespoon dill - fresh, chopped
Instructions
Prepare the Puff Pastry
- If you do not want to make your puff pastry from scratch, get enough store bought pastry or pie crust to make 2 pie crusts.
- Put the butter and water into a freezer for 10 or 15 minutes. We want the butter hard and the water cold!
- Using a medium-large mixing bowl, mix the flour and salt.
- Use a coarse cheese grater to grate the butter into the flour mixture.
- Use a dough blender or kitchen knife to lightly mix the butter and flour. You want to coat all of the butter with flour but not make a mass of dough.
- Using a small bowl or large measuring cup, mix the freezing cold water with the lemon juice.
- Add most of the water to the flour-butter mixture and stir it so it becomes a shaggy dough.
- Press the dough into a ball and return it to the mixing bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put it into the refrigerator for an hour or two.
- Lightly flour your work surface and a rolling pin.
- Turn the dough out onto your work surface.
- Roll the dough gently into a rectangle about 12 inches by 9 inches.
- Fold the dough into thirds: Fold the bottom third up to the middle, then the top third down over the middle.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and put it into the refrigerator for an hour or two. You can chill it overnight.
Prepare the Fish
- Debone the fillet, including the pin bones.
- Remove the skin.
- Trim the fillet so that it fits on your baking dish or pan with a couple of inches to spare on each side. If you have extra fish use it under thinner parts of the fillet or make salmon dip with it (don't waste good fish).
Prepare Crepes
- Using a medium mixing bowl, mix the flour and salt.
- Add the milk, egg, egg yolk, and butter and use a wire whisk to mix. Whisk until you have a smooth batter. It should be pretty thin. The melted butter and dill will be used after the batter sits.
- Cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature for an hour.
- Use a whisk to mix up the batter, then add the melted butter and dill and mix some more.
- Heat a crepe pan or small frying pan over medium heat.
- Grease the pan lightly with butter.
- Add about 1/4 cup of batter to the pan and tilt the pan quickly so the batter spreads evenly.
- Cook for about 3 minutes - it should release to the point that you can slip a thin spatula under it. Then flip the crepe and cook the other side for 2 or three minutes. You may need to practice with the first crepe.
- Slide the finished crepe onto a cooling rack and repeat the cooking process with the rest of the batter. Save any pieces that are less than perfect (you may need these later).
Prepare the Filling
- Using a small sauce pan, bring the water to a boil, then add rice. Cover the sauce pan and reduce to a low simmer. Cook for 30 minutes (or follow the rice package instructions)
- While the rice is cooking, prepare the mushrooms. Heat a medium frying pan over medium-low heat. Melt the butter in the frying pan, then add the chopped onion and cook for 5 minutes.
- Add the mushrooms to the onions and cook for another 5 minutes. Stir frequently. If the onions and mushrooms produces a lot of liquid, then turn up the heat a bit to boil it off without burning the mushrooms and onions.
- Take the frying pan off of the heat, mix in the parsley and dill.
- Drain the rice, then add the rice to the mushroom-onion mix and let the mixture cool.
Wrap It All Up
- Line a baking sheet with baking paper or parchment paper.
- Take the puff pastry out of the refrigerator. Lightly flour your work surface and a rolling pin.
- Cut off a bit less than half of the pastry. Roll it out so it is about 2 inches wider and longer than the fish fillet. Use the rolling pin to lift the pastry and lay it onto the lined baking sheet.
- Arrange the crepes so they cover the pastry plus an inch or two. You want the crepes to overlap just a bit to help seal the fish juices.
- Lay the fish fillet on top of the crepes. Keep the skin side down.
- Cover the top of the fish fillet with an even layer of the rice mixture. Pat it down so it is smooth.
- Brush the outer edges of the crepes with butter and fold them over the fillet/rice. Again you want the crepes to overlap to help seal the fish juices. You should end up with the fish and rice completely covered by crepes.
- Roll out the rest of the puff pastry so it is 4 inches wider and longer than the bottom piece (a couple of inches wider on each side). This will be the top.
- Brush the sides of the bottom piece of puff pastry with beaten egg.
- Use the rolling pin to lift the pastry top and lay it onto crepe covered fish so it drapes over it all. Push down to remove any air pockets, then press the top and bottom pastry edges together firmly to seal.
- Cut off the extra pastry on the edges so you have a 1 inch border. then pinch the seam tightly.
- Cut 4 to 6 evenly spaced vent holes into the top of the pastry. Then cover it loosely with plastic wrap and chill for about an hour.
- If you have a cookie cutter or artistic skill, you can use the extra puff pastry to make decorations. Use beaten egg to attach the decorations to the pastry.
Bake
- Pre-heat the oven to 375 ºF.
- Pull the chilled pie out of the refrigerator and take the plastic wrap off.
- Lightly brush beaten egg over the pie.
- Bake for 20 minutes at 375 ºF.
- Drop the temperature to 350 ºF and bake for another 25 minutes. the pastry should be a deep golden brown and appear crispy.
- Transfer to a serving platter and serve!
Notes
If you do not want to make your puff pastry from scratch, get enough store bought pastry or pie crust to make 2 pie crusts. You can also make the puff pastry the night before making the rest of the coulibiac and keep it in your refrigerator overnight.