fancy fishie

I don't know about you, but I could get REALLY sick of salmon. Salmon is very popular. As a result salmon dishes abound. As another result, salmon farming and fishing is also a big industry and a lot of fishies are sacrificed for our plates. I'm not going to tell you not to eat salmon - it is VERY good for you, as well as a great source of omega 3s and DHA, both of which are needed for a healthy brain - but I will urge you to consider the source of your salmon. Farmed salmon is not what's best for the environment, since farmed fish tends to be more prone to infection and parasites, which in turn affect the environment and wild fauna around them. So if you're going to eat salmon, go for the wild caught kind.

Now, back to my original point about getting sick of salmon. If I have to eat ginger/maple/cedar planked salmon once more, I might just throw up. So in a moment of creativity, I came up with my Fancy Fishie Salmon recipe that I will now share with you here. This dish is quick and fancy enough to serve to company. It's also one of my 3 year old's favorite dishes, which is thrilling for me!

Fancy Fishie Salmon

Serves 4

Ingredients:

- 1 package Highliner Frozen Wild Pacific Salmon Fillets (Individually Quick Frozen) - do NOT thaw

- 1 5oz log of goat cheese - either plain, or herbed (I prefer herbed)

- 12 sheets of phyllo pastry

- 2 tbsp butter, melted

Instructions:

** Stop here. A lot of people are turned off by phyllo because it seems like a sensitive item, what with the cool damp towel over top and blablabla. Now, I know that if you're a real talented cook, you follow the towel instructions. If I were making, say, spanakopita or something that involved a lot of handling and a lot of phyllo, I'd do it. But for this recipe, I'm going to be honest and tell you that I've never been a devout phyllo user, and never done the towel thing when I make this dish. Also, when I have thawed my phyllo and most of it is soft and bendy enough to work with - and I'm all done preparing - I have refrozen it with plenty of success. So, it's your call - you can either thaw your phyllo, do the towel thing, and throw away what you don't use, or you can do what I did here. Okay, carry on.

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. If you're using a package of frozen phyllo, pull it out of the cardboard box and leave it wrapped in the wax paper. Toss it in the microwave for 30 seconds, then pull it out and see if it's soft and bendy. If not, give it another 30 seconds until it is. Once your phyllo is nice and soft, go ahead to step 2.

2. In a small bowl, crumble the goat cheese into small pieces. Spread a piece of phyllo on an ungreased cookie sheet. Using a silicone brush, brush a little bit of melted butter over the phyllo and then lay a frozen salmon fillet on top. Sprinkle 1/4 of the goat cheese over the salmon.

3. Wrap the phyllo sheet around the fillet and goat cheese. Then get a second piece of phyllo and lay it on top of the wrapped fillet, flip it over, and wrap the fillet in the second piece. Brush the seams with melted butter.

4. Take a third piece of phyllo, and fold in half lengthwise to make it a longer rectangle. Put the wrapped fillet at a narrow end and roll it up in the phyllo. Then brush it all over with melted butter.

5. Repeat with the other 3 fillets, and place seam side down on the cookie sheet. Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes or until fish flakes with a fork (yes, this means you will have to pierce the phyllo package to see if it's cooked.) Alternately, bake until the phyllo is a deep golden brown color.

Serve with a side of garlic roasted asparagus and herbed risotto. Yum!