Salmon is often a crowd-pleaser.
A dish of salmon wrapped in crispy, buttery and well-seasoned phyllo dough was one of the courses served at the Free Press/Metro Detroit Chevy Dealers Top 10 Takeover dinner earlier this month at Chartreuse Kitchen & Cocktails in Detroit. The restaurant was named the restaurant of the year.
The salmon, two hefty pieces cut on the diagonal, was moist and perfectly done. The menu described the dish as Skuna Bay Salmon with phyllo, pickled summer peppers, mustard cream and Gass Farms frisee. Skuna Bay Salmon, according to www.skunabay.com, is raised by craftmen farmers. The company also refers to its salmon as Vancouver Island Craft-raised Salmon.
This salmon has a mild taste, but is firm. A firm salmon, or other fish, is the ideal candidate for wrapping in phyllo dough, as Chartreuse chef Doug Hewitt did for the dinner. Because it's firm, it holds together and doesn't fall apart when you slice it.
The phyllo dough also plays a role in keeping the dish together. What's tasty about this recipe is that after each layer is buttered, it is sprinkled with some bread crumbs and seasoned with salt and pepper. Doing so creates a nice buttery and seasoned taste with each bite. Hewitt also added another layer of flavor to the salmon by stuffing it with a herb-seasoned salmon and shrimp mousse. Once cooked the mousse turns out soft and tender and is a nice blend with the firm salmon.
Tissue-thin layers of phyllo can be buttered and filled with just about anything. At first, phyllo takes patience. But once you get the hang of it, you will find yourself using it for lots of things.
Most grocery stores sell frozen phyllo in a roll. For fresh phyllo dough, check Middle Eastern and Greek specialty stores.
I've been buying the smaller size sheets (perfect for this recipe) because they are easier to work with. They come two rolls to a package. The most common brand is Athens.
When working with phyllo, always keep it covered with a damp, cotton (not terry) kitchen cloth or paper towel. If you don't, it will dry out quickly and you can't use it. And, when brushing sheets with the melted butter, it's best to do so in streaks, taking care not to saturate them. Too much butter and the sheets will tear.
The two roll package is ideal because once thawed, phyllo doesn't re-freeze well. For today's recipe you'll need just one roll. And you might have a few leftover sheets. You might also have leftover mousse. If so, wrap about 2 tablespoons of the mousse in the leftover sheets and fold into a triangular shape and bake along with the salmon.
