Friday, February 17, 2023

Salmon and Shrimp Strudel

This salmon and shrimp strudel is fish pie made fancy but that doesn’t mean it’s not easy! Puff pastry elevates this most tasty of fillings to fabulous. 

Food Lust People Love: This salmon and shrimp strudel is fish pie made fancy but that doesn’t mean it’s not easy! Puff pastry elevates this most tasty of fillings to fabulous.

I’m a fan of pastry in all its forms, shortcrust, puff, rough puff, phyllo, what else have I missed? I firmly believe that with a bit of pastry any dish is made better, especially if it bakes up flakey, golden and maybe a little bit crunchy. 

For just that reason, for this month’s Fish Friday Foodie friends event, I chose seafood in pastry for our theme. I make this same dish with chicken for a fancy chicken pie but the salmon and shrimp version is way more flavorful. 

Salmon and Shrimp Strudel

Do not get too caught up in exact weights for the vegetables. I give the weights of mine to give you a guideline only. After all, my idea of what a small onion is may not be the same as your own. This makes enough filling for two salmon and shrimp strudels. I baked one the first day and saved the filling for about the third day, refrigerated, then baked the second. Both delicious and we were delighted to eat it again, just the two of us. If you are feeding four people, bake them both the same day! 

Ingredients - to serve four 
1/2 large or 1 whole small onion (about 5 1/3 oz or 150g)
1 long stalk celery, trimmed (about 2 3/4 oz or 78g)
1 - 2 medium carrots, cut in fine dice (ideally you want about the same amount of carrots as peas)
1 potato, cut in large dice (9 oz or 256g unpeeled) – soaked in cold water to stop it turning brown
1 1/2 cups or 380ml milk
1 teaspoon fine sea salt for poaching, plus extra at the end for final seasoning
10 oz or 284g wild salmon
1 lb or 450g thawed, peeled shrimp
1 slice streaky bacon
2 tablespoons or 28g butter or a little bit extra as needed
1/4 cup or 31g flour
2 tablespoons or 30ml heavy cream
1 tablespoon whole grained mustard
Zest and juice of ½ lemon
3/4 cup or 95g frozen peas, thawed
1 teaspoon fine sea salt, or to taste
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
2 (9 oz or 255g) all butter puff pastry sheet (I used the Trader Joe’s brand), thawed

Method
Peel and mince the onion. Remove the tough strings and mince the celery. Peel and cut the carrots into small dice. Notice the peas for size comparison. 


Poach the salmon in simmering milk, skin side down, for 10 minutes. 


Remove the salmon from the pot with a slotted spoon and add the shrimp. 


Bring it back up to temperature and then turn it down to simmer for about 5 minutes. 

While the shrimp poach, carefully remove the skin from the salmon and discard. 


(Or fry till crispy with a little oil in a nonstick skillet as the chef’s treat. We always do!)


Remove the shrimp from the pot with a slotted spoon and set aside to cool. 


Cook the potato cubes in the reserved poaching liquid for about five minutes or until almost cooked through. Use a slotted spoon to remove from the liquid. Pour the liquid into another vessel and set both aside to cool.  


Wash the pot out and then fry the bacon strip in it. Remove it from the pot when crispy. Chop the bacon into small strips.

Add the butter to any bacon fat left in the pan and sauté the onion, celery and carrots in it for about 10-12 minutes, covered, until softened. 


Test a carrot piece. If it’s cooked or just about, you are good to go. 

Slowly sprinkle the flour onto the vegetables and stir well with each addition. 


We are trying to avoid lumps of flour. Add a little more butter if the flour is dry. 


Cook for a few minutes. Stir in the poaching liquid slowly. 


Cook for a couple of minutes until the mixture thickens a little. 


Remove the pan from the heat. 

Add in the bacon, cream, mustard, lemon zest and juice. Stir well. 


Add in cooked potatoes and the shrimp, along with any juice that has accumulated on the cooling plate. Use your hands to break the salmon into smaller pieces and add them to the pot. Don’t go too small or they will ending breaking down completely when you fold to mix. Top with the peas.


Fold the ingredients together gently. Sprinkle with a little salt, the black pepper and cayenne, if using. 


Fold the ingredients again to combine. 


Refrigerate the filling, covered, until it is chilled and you are ready to bake the strudel. 

When you are ready to bake, preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C.

Lay one square of the puff pastry out on piece of baking parchment. 

Use a rolling pin to roll it out a little more from the middle, creating a rectangle out of your puff pastry square. 

Pile half of the cold filling in the middle of the puff pastry.


Cut slits in each side about a 1/2 inch or 1 cm in width. Leave the ends intact. 

Fold one end up and tuck the sides toward the middle. Fold the other end up and pinch to connect them to hold in the filling. 


Cut the rest of the pastry outside into pieces. Randomly pull each cut piece up and over, connecting them together over the filling and pinching to make them hold, knowing that they probably won’t but, hey, it’s worth a try. 


If you are baking both strudels the same day, put the first filled one in the refrigerator and repeat the process with the second puff pastry and the rest of the filling.

Bake the strudel in your preheated oven for about 35-40 minutes or until the pastry is puffed and golden and the filling is hot through. (Use a thermometer to check.) If it’s browning more quickly than it is heating through, you can cover it with foil. 

Remove from the oven and leave to rest for about 10 minutes before slicing to serve.  

Food Lust People Love: This salmon and shrimp strudel is fish pie made fancy but that doesn’t mean it’s not easy! Puff pastry elevates this most tasty of fillings to fabulous.

Enjoy! 

Check out the lovely pastry seafood dishes my Fish Friday Foodie friends are sharing today: 



Would you like to join Fish Friday Foodies? We post and share new seafood/fish recipes on the third Friday of the month. To join our group please email Wendy at wendyklik1517 (at) gmail.com. Visit our Facebook page and Pinterest page for more wonderful fish and seafood recipe ideas.


Pin this Salmon and Shrimp Strudel!

Food Lust People Love: This salmon and shrimp strudel is fish pie made fancy but that doesn’t mean it’s not easy! Puff pastry elevates this most tasty of fillings to fabulous.

.

Tuesday, February 14, 2023

Bacon Potato Silver Dollar Pancakes #BreadBakers

Bacon Potato Silver Dollar Pancakes are made with mashed potato, crispy bacon and green onions, stirred into pancake batter and cooked on a griddle until golden. These make an excellent breakfast or snack. So good!
 
Food Lust People Love: Bacon Potato Silver Dollar Pancakes are made with mashed potato, crispy bacon and green onions, stirred into pancake batter and cooked on a griddle until golden. These make an excellent breakfast, snack or serve them as an appetizer, topped with a slice of goat cheese and a sprinkle more of green onion. So good!

Happy Valentine's Day! We don't really celebrate the holiday by doing anything special but we do like to open a good bottle of wine and enjoy a tasty meal at home. If you don't know what to serve your special someone, these silver dollar pancakes would be great as an appetizer topped with a slice of goat cheese and a sprinkle more of green onion.

Bacon Potato Silver Dollar Pancakes

I cheat for these and use the pre-cooked real bacon crumbles from Costco. I fry them a little bit more and drain on paper towels to get rid of more bacon fat. According to the interwebs, one half cup of bacon crumbles is the result of frying 8 slices of regular (not thick cut) bacon.

Ingredients for about 27 silver dollar pancakes
1/2 cup or 60g cooked smoked bacon, chopped in bits
1 cup or 125g flour
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Fresh black pepper
1/2 cup or 120ml sour cream
1/2 cup or 120ml milk
1 large egg
Rounded 3/4 cup or 200g leftover mashed potatoes 
1/4 oz or 7g green onions, plus more to serve, if desired

Method
Combine the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and a few generous grinds of fresh black pepper in a large mixing bowl. Add in the crispy bacon and stir well.


Whisk the mashed potato, egg, sour cream and milk together in a smaller mixing bowl.  


Now fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Add the green onion tops and fold again.


Lightly grease your griddle by brushing it with a little oil or bacon fat.

Spoon batter onto the griddle to make 5-6 little pancakes. You could fit more on there but then they'd be a challenge to turn over. 


When they have browned on one side, turn them over with a spatula to brown on the other. This takes just a few minutes over a medium flame.


Remove to a plate and keep warm as you cook the rest of the pancake batter in similar batches. 


We ate these plain and they were delicious just like that but the goat’s cheese circles added a great punch of flavor, served with a glass of crisp rosé. 

Food Lust People Love: Bacon Potato Silver Dollar Pancakes are made with mashed potato, crispy bacon and green onions, stirred into pancake batter and cooked on a griddle until golden. These make an excellent breakfast, snack or serve them as an appetizer, topped with a slice of goat cheese and a sprinkle more of green onion. So good!

Enjoy! 

It’s National Potato Lovers Month so my Bread Bakers are creating their recipes with the humble potato. Check them out in the links below. 

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.


Pin these Bacon Potato Silver Dollar Pancakes!

Food Lust People Love: Bacon Potato Silver Dollar Pancakes are made with mashed potato, crispy bacon and green onions, stirred into pancake batter and cooked on a griddle until golden. These make an excellent breakfast, snack or serve them as an appetizer, topped with a slice of goat cheese and a sprinkle more of green onion. So good!

.

Monday, January 30, 2023

Cheddar Chili Bean Muffins #MuffinMonday

Made with leftover chili con carne, these cheddar chili bean muffins are a wonderful savory bake, perfect alone or as an accompaniment to your meal.

Food Lust People Love: Made with leftover chili con carne, these cheddar chili bean muffins are a wonderful savory bake, perfect alone or as an accompaniment to your meal.

When researching recipes for another post, I came across a dish I had never heard of called fritoque (pronounced free-toh-kay.) It was on the menu of a Mexican restaurant in San Antonio way back when, made with cooked beans, broken tortilla chips and cheese. One variation on the recipe was a substitution of chili con carne for the beans. 

I made the chili then I made a hybrid fritoque that was half beans and half chili. Then I ran out of time to edit the photos and create the post before the event deadline, so I’ll have to share it another day. It was really tasty! 

But meanwhile, I had leftovers of the chili-bean mixture and using it in muffins seemed like a great idea. I’ve made chili cheese dog muffins before and they were fabulous. This recipe is very similar but no weenies. 

Cheddar Chili Bean Muffins

If you don’t have leftover chili con carne, you can use canned but keep in mind that the moisture content of the canned chili may be higher so strain it somewhat if it’s really wet.

Ingredients
1 cup or 125g flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 oz or 57g extra sharp cheddar cheese, grated, plus extra for topping, if desired
1 cup or 260g chili with beans
1/4 cup or 60ml canola or other light oil, plus extra for the muffin pan
1 egg

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 6-cup muffin pan by brushing it with a little oil. 

Combine your flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cheese in a large mixing bowl.


In another smaller bowl, whisk together your egg, oil and chili with beans.


Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ones and stop when it’s still quite dry looking.


Divide your batter between the 6 muffin cups.


Sprinkle the tops with the extra cheese, if using.  


Bake for 20-25 minutes in your preheated oven or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.


Allow to cool for a few minutes in the pan and then remove to continue cooling on a wire rack.


Enjoy!

Food Lust People Love: Made with leftover chili con carne, these cheddar chili bean muffins are a wonderful savory bake, perfect alone or as an accompaniment to your meal.

It’s Muffin Monday, our first of 2023! Check out all the great muffins my friends are sharing with you today. 


#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all of our lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday can be found on our home page.


Pin these Cheddar Chili Bean Muffins!

Food Lust People Love: Made with leftover chili con carne, these cheddar chili bean muffins are a wonderful savory bake, perfect alone or as an accompaniment to your meal.

 .