If you visit my website, you’ll notice that salmon is my favorite fish. I just love the texture and flavor, and there’s so much you can do with it.

You can call  this dish also “Salmon en croûte”. Preparing this dish is incredibly easy. You can cook it in the oven or in the air fryer. Since it’s very filling, you don’t need a side dish.

If you—like my daughter—don’t like feta cheese, you can leave it out. It’s completely optional. Just add a little more salt to the spinach. In my opinion, feta cheese goes perfectly with spinach and salmon!

You can use fresh, skinless salmon fillet or frozen salmon fillet, which you can find in most supermarkets. I’ve tried both and they work well. Thaw the frozen salmon fillet thoroughly. Since these fillets are thinly sliced, you’ll need two fillets per person.

As salmon has a lot of (good) calories already I prefer to use light cream cheese. For those who don’t have to count, feel free to use the full fat version 🙂

Be careful using salt in the spinach as the Feta cheese naturally comes with a lot of salt.

Also, make sure to remove the puff pastry from the freezer and let thaw overnight in the fridge.

If you can’t find Herbes de Provence in your supermarket, try my Herbes de Provence spice blend. It’s easy to prepare and—to be honest—much cheaper than the ready-made blends. Most blends contain lavender, but I find it overpowering. Having lived in France for a while, I don’t remember ever finding lavender in this particular spice blend.

What you need:
4 fresh salmon fillets (each 250gr) without skin
2 dough sheets of puff pastry
200 gr cream cheese
100 gr Feta cheese
350-400 gr leaf spinach (fresh or frozen)
50 ml dry white wine
1 small onion
½ tsp Herbs de Provence
Salt
Pepper
Lemon juice
1-1½ Tbsp breadcrumbs
1 tsp olive oil
1 egg yolk
Sesame seeds (optional)

How to prepare:
Finely chop the onion and sauté it in a saucepan with 1 teaspoon of olive oil until translucent. Add the spinach and sauté over medium heat until soft.

Deglaze with white wine and 1 Tbsp of lemon juice, add the herbs de Provence, salt and pepper. Simmer over medium heat for about 5 minutes, until some of the liquid has evaporated.

Crumble the feta cheese into a bowl and mix with the cream cheese. Add the mixture to the spinach. Stir well until everything forms a smooth sauce.

The filling for the puff pastry will now be quite runny. Add enough breadcrumbs until the filling has a creamy, slightly thick consistency. It’s important that the filling isn’t too runny, as otherwise the puff pastry will absorb it and won’t crisp up after baking. The breadcrumbs will help absorb the liquid. Set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven on 180°C.

Wash the salmon fillets, pat dry with kitchen paper and drizzle with a little lemon juice on both sides, season with salt and pepper.

Cut each puff pastry sheet in half (quarter if using the small fillets from the supermarket). Place a salmon fillet on each square, tucking in the thinner part of the fillet to ensure the fillets are roughly the same thickness.

Spread some of the filling on top and along the long sides of the fish. Make sure there’s enough filling for all four fillets. Fold the dough over it lengthwise by making small parcels. Then close the short sides and press them together firmly with a fork.

Whisk the egg yolk and brush it over the top and sides of each parcel. Sprinkle with some white and black sesame seeds, if desired.

Cut several times (diagonally or crosswise) across the top of each parcel with a sharp knife. This is important to allow steam to escape and ensure the puff pastry becomes nice and crispy.

Bake in a convection oven for 30-35 minutes or in an air fryer at 180°C for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.