Simple Salmon Pies

I wish I had a picture of these. They are absolutely beautiful!! Jon and I were watching the Food Network one day and saw THIS. Months later I was craving salmon and I knew this would be the perfect meal. They are SO easy and really melt in your mouth. Below is the recipe. We made a few changes to simplify even more. We used olive oil, regular white onion and mushrooms, dried thyme and no parsley. Enjoy!!

Ingredients

• 4 (6-ounce) center cut salmon fillets, skin removed
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• salt and pepper
• 4 tablespoons canola oil, divided
• 1 medium Vidalia onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup chopped shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 4 cups washed, dried, and loosely packed fresh baby spinach
  
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 2 frozen puff pastry sheets, defrosted
• Chopped fresh parsley leaves, for garnish

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Brush both sides of the salmon with 1 teaspoon lemon juice and sprinkle with salt and pepper, to taste. Set aside.

Warm 2 tablespoons oil in 2 separate skillets over medium-high heat. Add half of the onion and half the garlic to each pan. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the mushrooms and thyme into 1 pan and the spinach, lemon zest and remain lemon juice in the other pan. Stir the spinach until it wilts, then transfer it to a bowl and set aside. Saute the mushrooms until they are reduced and tender, about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in the sour cream. Set aside.

Trim the thinner ends of the salmon fillet so you have 4 pieces of even thickness. Unroll a pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface. Pass a rolling pin lightly over 2 or 3 times to seal the seams and lengthen slightly. Cut the pastry sheet into 3 equal strips, using the natural seams as a guide. Roll out the second puff pastry sheet to get 1 more strip. Save remaining puff pastry for another use. Lightly prick the 4 strips with a fork. Put 1 heaping spoonful of mushroom mixture on 1 half of each pastry, top with salmon, then layer with a heaping spoonful of spinach mixture. Wet the edges of the pastry with water and fold over the other half, pressing lightly and folding to seal the edges. Repeat with remaining pastry and filling. Cut 2 vents on the top of each pastry packet and arrange them on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Bake until the pastry is golden and fish is just opaque in the center, about 25 to 30 minutes.

Transfer the pies from the oven to serving dishes and garnish with chopped parsley.