Fifth Month Anniversary Dinner

Patrick and I sure do love each other. Having lots of fun with our love themed posts for February on the blog!

Today marks the half way point for our first year of marriage! This meal is from last month; our five month anniversary dinner. At the end of the post you can find links to one through four month celebratory meals. So far we haven't repeated any meals. We do try to have fancier than our average meals so we'll see how long we last before something gets repeated! We hadn't had salmon yet so I figured the fanciest way to dress up salmon was with puff pastry. We had Brussels sprouts let over from the spring rolls we tried earlier. Read on for the menu and recipes (all recipe titles are hyperlinked to the original).

Entree: Salmon in a puff pastry 
served aside roasted Brussels sprouts with cranberries and pecans
Dessert: Dulce de leche tiramisu
Wine: Veritas Vineyard & Winery, red wine purchased on our honeymoon


Salmon in puff pastry from Rachael Ray
Ingredients
2 tablespoons EVOO Extra Virgin Olive Oil, divided 
4 salmon fillets, skin removed 
Salt and ground black pepper 
1/2 pound button mushrooms, thinly sliced 
1 leek, thinly sliced and washed thoroughly 
Salt and ground black pepper 
2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon leaves 
3/4 cup heavy cream 
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard 
2 sheets puff pastry dough, defrosted in the fridge if frozen 
Flour, as needed for rolling out 
1 egg, lightly beaten with a splash of water 
   We cut everything in half
Directions
   Preheat oven to 400F. 
   Place a large skillet over medium-high heat with 1 turns of the pan of EVOO, about 1 tablespoons. Season the fish with salt and pepper, and sear in the hot pan until golden brown. Remove and reserve. 
   Return the pan to medium-high heat and add 1 more turn of the pan of EVOO, about 1 tablespoon. Season the fish with salt and pepper, and sear fish a minute on each side. Remove and reserve. Add 1 more turn of the pan of EVOO, about 1 tablespoon. Add the mushrooms and leeks to the pan, and cook until tender, 6-7 minutes. Season mushrooms with salt and pepper then add tarragon, cream and Dijon to the skillet. Bring up to a bubble, then reduce the heat to medium and simmer until thickened, 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool. 
   Roll the puff pastry out with a little flour on a large work area. Quarter a large sheet or halve 2 smaller sheets. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and arrange the rectangles of dough on it. Divide the mushroom cream sauce between rectangles of dough, make a small pile in the middle of the sheet. Place a piece of seared fish on top of the sauce and fold the edges of the dough up around the fillet. Trim excess dough. Use egg wash to secure seam then place seam side down on baking sheet. Cut a few slits in the top of each pastry parcel. Brush them with the beaten egg and transfer to the oven. Bake until the pastry is puffed and golden, about 20 minutes. 



Ingredients
1 pound Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved lengthwise 
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt 
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper 
1 c dried cranberries 
¼ c pecans 
   We cut everything in half
Directions
   Preheat oven to 400°F. Toss Brussels sprouts with oil, salt and pepper on a rimmed baking sheet and roast, stirring once or twice, until deep golden brown, crisp outside and tender inside, 30 to 35 minutes. The leaves that are loose will be especially brown and crispy. Transfer to a bowl and serve. 
   During the last 5 minutes of roasting, add 1 cup dried cranberries and 1/4 cup pecan pieces. Stir well and continue roasting until Brussels sprouts are tender. 

Dulce de leche Tiramisu
Patrick was in charge of dessert; here's his summary of the tiramisu
We somewhat improvised this one with what Whitney had been able to pick up from the store. She had tiramisu mascarpone and rather than ladyfingers, the store only had "dessert shells" which were little round yellow cakes with a depression in the middle.

Seeing as how the tiramisu mascarpone was supposedly already tiramisu flavored, I just stirred in a little bit of vanilla, cinnamon, and powdered sugar to use as the filling. We sliced the dessert shells in half and lightly toasted them. To form an individual portion, we dipped a shell in coffee, topped with some mascarpone mixture, drizzled with dulce de leche, then repeated for a second layer, finally topping with whipped cream.


Wonder what's on the menu for the six month mark?! Something special, I'm sure!
As promised here are the links for our One Month ; Two Month ; Third Month & Four Month dinners.

2 comments:

  1. Happy half-year anniversary to the newlywed Eibls! What a beautiful and delicious-looking meal you presented here. Salmon is definitely one of my favorites too and seems all the better enclosed in puff pastry. Yum!!

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  2. This sounds wonderful. Whitney, you surprise me sometimes - I did not know you liked brussel sprouts.

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