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. 

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.  

Enjoy! 

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

• Gluten Free Prawn /Shrimp Quiche - with Homemade Gluten Free Pie Crust from Sneha's Recipe
• Salmon and Shrimp Strudel from Food Lust People Love
• Shrimp Cups from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Shrimp in a Blanket from Karen's Kitchen Stories

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.

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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!

 

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. 

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. 

• Bacon Potato Silver Dollar Pancakes from Food Lust People Love
• Baked Vada Pav from Cook with Renu
• Feather Rolls from A Messy Kitchen
• Loaded Baked Potato Pizza from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Okinawan Sweet Potato Pani Popo from Magical Ingredients
• Potato Bread with Roasted Apples from What Smells So Good?
• Potato Crescent Rolls from Passion Kneaded
• Potato Dinner Rolls from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Sweet Potato Biscuits from The Wimpy Vegetarian
• Turkish Stuffed Pogaca with Cheese & Potato from Sneha’s Recipe

#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.

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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.

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!

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

• Almond Flour Banana Muffins from Passion Kneaded
• Apple Bran Muffins from Palatable Pastime
• Bran Buds Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Cheddar Chili Bean Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Cinnamon Crumb Muffins from Jolene's Recipe Journal
• Dried Fig and Pineapple Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Persian Love Cake Muffins from Magical Ingredients
• Small-Batch Double Chocolate Banana Muffins from Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice

#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.

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Passion Fruit Posset

Made with only four main ingredients, there is no simpler or more delicious dessert than a passion fruit posset. It’s tart, sweet and creamy!

Last year around this time, just before my birthday in fact, a package arrived on my porch. When I opened it, I found 10 gorgeous passion fruit. No idea where they came from. 

I posted to social media in the hopes that someone would enlighten me and it turns out they were a birthday gift from my elder daughter, who knows I LOVE PASSION FRUIT. 

I’m not much of a cake lover so for my birthday, I made passion fruit posset just like this, except in one big bowl. I served it with a spoon into smaller bowls once it had set. We all enjoyed it thoroughly and so not too many days later, I made it again and poured it into pretty glasses to chill and serve. 

Since I have some passion fruit pulp in the freezer, I’ve decided to continue birthday tradition and make this again. This year it’s just two of us at home so I’ll probably halve the recipe.

Passion Fruit Posset

If you can’t find fresh passion fruit, check the freezer section in your nearby grocery stores, especially if you have ones that cater to Asian or Latin clientele. They often sell frozen pulp. Whenever I see the fresh ones at a reasonable price, I freeze my own as well. 

Ingredients – to serve four 

5 large passion fruit, halved and pulp scooped out

1/4 cup or 60ml fresh lemon juice

2 1/2 cups or 590ml double cream

1/2 cup or 113g caster sugar

pinch fine sea salt

Method

Strain the seeds out of the passion fruit, extracting as much juice as possible. I find it helpful to vigorously whisk the whole mess which loosens the seeds from the pulp. I got about 1/3 cup or 80ml of juice.

Pour the juice into a measuring vessel then add some seeds back till you reach the 1/2 cup or 120ml mark. Reserve the rest of the seeds for topping. 

Add the lemon juice to the passion fruit juice, stir, then set aside. 

Combine the cream and sugar in a medium saucepan set over a low heat and stir for 2 mins to dissolve the sugar. 

Turn the heat up to medium and bring to the boil. Simmer for 2 mins (set a timer) then remove from the heat and immediately stir in the passion fruit and lemon juice mixture. 

Divide evenly between four (8 oz or 240ml) cups or glasses - do this quickly, as the mixture will start to thicken. Since I was using glasses, I put a small teaspoon in each to make sure the heat didn’t break the glass. 

I removed the teaspoons before chilling. 

Leave to cool for 10 mins, then chill for at least 4 hours or overnight. The posset can be made up to three days ahead and chilled.

Once set, add the reserved passion fruit pulp to the top.

And serve. 

Enjoy! 

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing recipes that we make in our families for special occasions like birthdays. Check out all the links below! 

• Eggless Mango Semolina Cake from Sneha's Recipe
• {Harry Potter} Platform 9 3/4 Cake (Chocolate Cake with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting) from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Hawaiian Beef Sticks from Palatable Pastime
• Holy Cow Chocolate Pie from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• The Mann Men's Birthday Treats: Bûche De Noël, Baked Alaska, and Tiramisù from Culinary Cam
• Passion Fruit Posset from Food Lust People Love

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

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