Feb 09, 2011
I'm hunting around for an elegant, simple fish dish for a dinner's main course. Even though I anticipated some issues with this, I tried a half-batch exactly as written, and I had several problems: 1) It was really, REALLY bland; and 2) like other reviewers, I ended up with soggy-bottom salmon. I tweaked my second attempt quite a bit, with great results: Instead of using fresh spinach (which has a really high moisture content), I used very-well-drained frozen spinach. To give the spinach some needed flavor, I sauteed a mixture of finely-chopped mushrooms, garlic, shallots, nutmeg, butter, and salt for about 10 minutes, then added the spinach and sauteed for another 10-15 minutes to cook off as much moisture as possible (I hate to crash a recipe and rewrite it in the comments, but this seriously needed a flavor boost). I also removed the finished product to a rack to cool, which helped alleviate the sog factor. I'd say this dish is a good launching pad to add flavors that suit you - just do whatever you can to reduce the amount of moisture inside the pastry.
—campagnes
