Salmon Pirouettes

I was at the wedding of my good friends recently and while I expected to be uplifted spiritually, confess I was not expecting the material side to be uplifting and braced myself for the usual rubber chicken.

Imagine my delight and surprise when each course was beautifully presented and truly tasty.  

So much so, that I decided to copy their salmon course because it was gorgeous and delectable and perfectly cooked.

I call them salmon pirouettes since they look like they are dancing on the plate.

You take fillets of salmon and remove the skin.

If you have a fish shop you go to you can have them do this for you, if not, simply take a deadly sharp knife (be careful 😉) and slice just under the meat of the fish, no big if a bit stays on the skin, and wriggle the knife as you slice and it should come off fairly easily.  If the fish is frozen slightly, you can peel it off by hand but I find more fish gets left behind on the skin.

Rinse them and pat dry.  Then take that scary sharp knife and cut them into strips.  

Set aside.

In a bowl, mix together crushed garlic, finely chopped parsley, salt and mayonnaise till smooth.

Take a salmon strip and shmear the top with a layer of the parsley mixture. 

Roll the salmon strip around the mixture- if long you might almost get a pinwheel, if shorter you get a circle.

Repeat with all the fish and most of the parsley mixture and place on parchment paper in a baking pan close together so they don’t unroll.  Very lightly rub the top with a bit of the mixture to keep moist.  

If your pan isn’t full, you can use toothpicks if you are worried they will unravel or crunch up some aluminum foil and crowd the pan that way.

Because you are making thinner strips of salmon than normal, you cook it for less time as well. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes and remove promptly from oven.

This can be served hot or cold, plated with two toned lettuce and red grapes is super eye catching and tasty and you will go barmy for the creamy texture of the salmon and filling.

Salmon Pirouettes

500 grams or about 1 pound of salmon fillet – mine were precut largish fillets but you can use wholly uncut fillets and cut them

2 heaping tablespoons of finely chopped parsley or the frozen chopped parsley equal to that amount

1 rounded teaspoon of salt

2 teaspoons chopped garlic

1/3-1/2 cup mayonnaise

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Take the salmon and skin it if not already skinned. You must skin the salmon for this or the skin will give you an unpleasant texture.

Rinse and pat dry. Cut into strips (see above) and set aside. Prepare a baking pan by lining with parchment paper.

Take a bowl and put in parsley, salt, garlic and mayonnaise. Mix thoroughly.

Take the salmon strips and coat with the parsley mixture and form a circle. The mixture should keep it stuck together but if need be, fasten with toothpicks. If your strips are extra long, you might get a pinwheel out of it. Lay on parchment paper in pan, crowding them together so they won’t unravel. When you’ve used up all the salmon and most of the parsley mixture, with your finger, (in latex gloves if you wish) lightly rub the remainder on the top of the salmon to keep it moist. Bake 350 for 20 minutes.