Here’s a final Sunday Supper idea for 2020, and one I’ve been thinking and fretting about making for a while.

Why the fretting? Well, have you ever cooked salmon? If you have, you know how tricky it can be to do well, and how fast it can go from perfect to dried out. Wrapping it in puff pastry and baking it seems masochistic, really. If I were kinder to myself I’d have gone with a phyllo dough, but no, I was stubborn and wanted those flaky, puffy layers that only puff pastry can give you.

The problem though, is those layers take at least 35-40 minutes at high heat to cook in a Wellington situation, and 35-40 minutes at high heat sounds like death for a salmon fillet. But I still wanted to try! I glanced around the internet, and I’m not the first to attempt this. But for every other recipe I found, I suspect the pastry is undercooked. I’m sure the salmon was delicious, but that pale, golden colored pastry? After just 25 minutes? It’s not done. There’s no way.

I didn’t want perfect salmon and undercooked pastry, so I tried a few tricks that I think worked out pretty well. The first is rolling the pastry out pretty thinly, which helps give you enough to cover two stacked salmon fillets, which are a bit wider than the traditional beef roll. But rolling thinly also helps the puff pastry cook a little faster, which we want here. The second trick is adding a moisture barrier under the salmon, but something to add moisture on top of the salmon. The good news about a Wellington, is we are basically steaming the salmon here so it is hard to dry out completely, but I wanted some back up, and then somewhere for all the juices to go on the bottom. The third trick was stacking 2 fillets together to make a thicker cut of salmon. Finally, the last trick I tried was just packing in the flavor. The truth is, this is still salmon baked for probably 10 minutes longer than is ideal, so its going to be well done. That luscious, perfect salmon, doesn’t-need-anything-else-flavor wouldn’t be possible, so I layered with as much backup as possible, including garlic, preserved lemon, and the warm spices in baharat, a Middle Eastern Spice blend.

In the end, I did make a pretty good salmon Wellington! I would probably roll my bottom pastry a little thinner next time, and I made the mistake of wrapping the ends under instead of cutting off the excess. But the flavor was fantastic, and I didn’t think the salmon was overcooked. I happily ate all the leftovers, along with the absolutely delicious rice salad, with jewel-like dried fruits, sharpness from the shallot, and creamy goat cheese.

The dried fruits and warm spices are perfect for the season, just in a slightly unexpected way.

Salmon Wellington with Warm Rice Salad

Serves 6

For the Wellington:

• olive oil

• 4 cloves garlic, minced, divided

• 1 quarter preserved lemon peel (reserve the flesh), minced

• 4 cups baby spinach

• 1 small shallot, minced

• 3/4 cup cooked beluga lentils, drained and rinsed

• 2-3 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves stripped and roughly chopped

• 3/4 tsp kosher salt, plus more, to taste

• 1 tbs baharat spice mix (see note)

• two, 1 lb salmon fillets, skin removed

• 1 package puff pastry, chilled

• 1 egg yolk

For the warm rice salad:

• 1 cup jasmine rice

• 1 1/2 cups water

• salt and pepper, to taste

• 3 tbs good olive oil

• juice and flesh of one quarter of a preserved lemon

• 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

• 1/2 tsp zaatar

• 1/2 cup dried cherries or cranberries

• 1/4 cup golden raisins

• 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

• 1/2 cup chopped parsley

• 1 shallot, thinly sliced

• 2 oz goat cheese

1. Prepare the wellington fillings: Heat a little olive oil in a pan over medium low heat, and add half the minced garlic and cook until fragrant, about one minute. Add the preserved lemon peel and cook another minute. Add the spinach, and cook just until wilted, another 1-2 minutes. Remove to a large plate to cool.

2. Heat a little more oil in the pan, add the minced shallot and cook 2-3 minutes, until softened, then add the remaining garlic and cook another minute, until fragrant. Add the thyme and the lentils, and cook, mashing the lentils a bit with the back of your spoon or spatula, until everything is dried out the lentils look like very chunky mashed lentils. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed, then set aside to cool completely.

3. Pat the salmon fillets dry with paper towels, then sprinkle with the 3/4 tsp salt and baharat spices.

4. Assemble the wellington: mix the egg yolk and 1 tsp water together in a small bowl. Roll the puff pastry as large as needed to wrap around the salmon. Don’t be afraid to roll it thinly, that will help it cook more quickly, which we want here. On the puff pastry, layer first the spinach mixture, then the salmon fillets, stacked to make it as even thickness as possible. Top with the lentil mixture. Bring one long side of the puff pastry over the salmon and brush with the egg wash, then bring the other side up and over that one. Bring in the short sides just over the exposed ends of the salmon, trim any excess dough, and brush with egg wash to seal. Don’t just wrap each end under the roll of pastry, you will end up with a very thick pastry bottom that will never cook (I say this from experience). Flip the whole pastry package over and brush the top with egg wash. Score with a sharp knife, then transfer to the fridge to chill for at least one hour.

5. While salmon is chilling, gather your rice salad ingredients. And heat oven to 425 degrees. After salmon has chilled for at least one hour, bake, 30-35 minutes, until the pastry is puffed and dark golden, then remove from the oven and let rest 10 minutes.

6. While the salmon is baking, make the rice salad. In a pot, bring the water to a boil and add the rice, then reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes.

7. While rice cooks, in a large bowl add the preserved lemon flesh and juice, apple cider vinegar, zaatar, and salt and pepper to taste. Whisk to combine. When rice is done, fluff with a fork and add to the bowl and toss to coat with the dressing. Add the dried fruit and pine nuts and toss, then add the shallots and parsley and mix everything together. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed, then crumble in the goat cheese and give a final toss.

8. To serve, slice the salmon Wellington and plate with the warm rice.