Vegan Salmon in Puff Pastry
After our vegan salmon filet was so well received on Instagram, we thought it was time for a little twist on the recipe. So, how about vegan salmon wrapped in puff pastry? When I was a child, salmon was by far my favorite fish, so this classic recipe used to be made quite often.
If you haven't heard of our vegan salmon recipe yet, be sure to check it out here. We also have other salmon recipes in which we have prepared the salmon from carrots. These are wraps with vegan carrot salmon cream, vegan tartare with carrot salmon or vegan blinis with carrot salmon.
The preparation for our tofu and salmon variation in puff pastry is exactly the same as for our noodles in salmon cream sauce and, therefore, also super easy: to get as much flavor as possible into the tofu, we stir together a broth made from pickle water, miso paste, a nori leaf, soy sauce and various spices. For the color, add beet juice or food coloring. Make sure it is vegan - some are often dyed with animal products. You should also be very careful with the drops of food coloring, as one drop usually has quite a lot of power.
The tofu is then cut into salmon shapes and scored so that it is dyed pink inside and out when cooked in the marinade. If cutting the tofu is too time-consuming, you can also leave it in its shape. However, you should then leave it to simmer for 5–10 minutes longer so that it absorbs as much flavor from the sauce as possible.
When rolling up the pastry, I can give you another tip I did wrong the first time: Make sure you let the spinach cool and drain well before placing it on the puff pastry. Otherwise, the pastry may start to soften before you can even roll it up, and the roll will not look as nice at the end.
Of course, you can get creative when carving the puff pastry. We have carved stripes in the classic way, but other patterns are also possible. We look forward to your ideas.
Vegan Salmon in Puff Pastry
Ingredients
For the spinach:
- 400 g (14 oz) spinach (frozen)
- 1 onion
- vegetable oil
- nutmeg
- salt
- pepper
For the “salmon”:
- 400 g (14 oz) tofu
- 200 ml (0.75 cup) cucumber water (from a jar of gherkins)
- 200 ml (0.75 cup) water
- 1 nori leaf
- 1 tbsp light miso paste
- 4 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp vinegar
- 2 tsp onion powder
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1-2 drops red food coloring (or 1-2 tbsp beet juice)
- 1 onion
For the dip:
- 100 g (0.33 cup) vegan crème fraîche
- 100 g (0.33 cup) vegan yoghurt (unsweetened)
- 10 g (0.33 oz) fresh dill
- 0.5 lemon (juice)
- salt
- pepper
Also:
- 1 vegan puff pastry
- 10 ml (1 tbsp) vegan cooking cream
- 1 pinch of turmeric
- sesame seeds (light and dark)
Instructions
Defrost the spinach. Peel and finely dice the onion. Heat the oil in a pan, fry the chopped onion and briefly sauté the spinach. Season with nutmeg, salt and pepper. Drain completely and leave to cool.
Cut the tofu blocks into filets with a sharp knife. To do this, make diagonal cuts 1–2 millimeters (0.1 inch) apart on the top side to get as close as possible to the texture of salmon.
Place the cucumber water, water, nori leaf, miso paste, soy sauce, vinegar, onion powder and garlic powder in a tall container and blend well with a blender for a few minutes until the nori leaf is finely chopped. Add food coloring or beet juice until the marinade is bright red.
Pour the marinade into a small pan and heat. Cut an onion into eighths and add to the pan. Add the salmon fillets and simmer on a medium heat for approximately 10 minutes. Make sure that the marinade gets between the cuts in the fillets.
Preheat the oven to 200 °C / 390 °F (convection heat). Roll out the puff pastry, spread half of the spinach on top, place the salmon fillets on top and top with the remaining spinach so that the tofu is wholly wrapped in spinach. Fold the puff pastry and turn the „seam“ downwards. Score the top with a sharp knife. Mix the cream with the turmeric and spread over the roll with a brush.
Bake the puff pastry roll at 200 °C / 390 °F (convection heat) for 20–25 minutes until nicely browned. Halfway through baking, spread the light and dark sesame seeds on the roll.
In the meantime, make the dip by mixing the crème fraîche, yogurt, chopped dill, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
Serve the salmon in puff pastry with lemon slices and dill cream.
