Salmon en croute with shiitake mushrooms

Ingredients

Salmon
1 lb. shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and thinly sliced
2 bunches rainbow chard, washed and chopped
6 cloves garlic, chopped
2 shallots, chopped
6 sprigs fresh thyme, chopped
2 cups (1 lb.) unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup sherry wine
Salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
2 boxes phyllo dough, thawed
6 (6-oz.) fillets wild king salmon
4 oz. pistachios, toasted and roughly chopped

Basil cream
1 quart heavy whipping cream
1 shallot, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 sprigs fresh thyme, chopped
1 bunch fresh sweet basil, leaves only

Directions

For salmon: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sauté mushrooms and chard in a pan with garlic, shallots, thyme and a bit of the melted butter. Deglaze pan with sherry. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside to cool. On a clean tabletop, lay out phyllo dough horizontally, 1 sheet at a time. Brush each layer with melted butter. Once you have 5 layered sheets, cut phyllo in half to make 2 equal-sized portions of dough. Repeat this process 2 more times until you have 6 portions of layered phyllo dough.

Place 1 salmon fillet on the lower half of 1 portion of dough and top with 1/6 of the mushroom mixture. Lightly press 1/6 of the pistachios on top of that. Gently fold in the left and right sides of the dough over the salmon. Brush with butter. Fold the bottom lip of the dough over salmon and roll as you would a burrito. Brush with butter and sprinkle lightly with salt. Place salmon on a nonstick baking sheet and continue with the rest of the portions. Bake for 15 to 25 minutes or until dough is completely golden brown.

For basil cream: Heat cream in a heavy saucepan over low heat until steaming. Add shallot, garlic and thyme. Cook below a boil for 10 minutes. Do not boil. Remove from heat and add basil. Let sit for 5 minutes. Pour sauce into a blender and puree very carefully, as it will still be very hot. Season with salt and pepper and keep hot until salmon is ready.

Because of her interest in locally grown products, Hosmer uses shiitake mushrooms from Watsonville and rainbow chard from San Juan Bautista in this recipe.

Serves 6