Salmon Coulibiac

Coulibiac is a popular Russian Pirog ( a dough filled with either sweet or savoury ) dish served during festivities. Quite intriguing the first time i heard about it... I even asked the waiter --  Couli what? and while looking at it, the methodology is working on my mind and the thought of pastry dough discouraged me to make one, until i found the solution, TING!  This might be a little overwhelming, but with few alternatives we can enjoy gourmet food at the comfort of our homes. Try it!

I'm not going to scare you with the dough (I will try my own dough one of these days) but for now-- let's make it a little easy-peasy...

SALMON COULIBIAC
what you need: 

about 1/2  kg slab of salmon belly (boneless and skinless) 
Cooked Rice Pilaf , rice, vege or your favourite quinoa
Salt and pepper
2 square sheets of puff pastry
eggyolk for brushing

Assembly:

1. Frozen salmon slab, dash with salt and pepper
Take out your puff pastry and thaw halfway just enough to fold it.

2. Lay flat the pastry on a baking tray lined with parchment (for easy cleaning and assembling)

3. Place rice at the center the size of the salmon slab.
Lay the slab on top the rice (skin side on top).
Then  cover the layers with another puff pastry.
Bring the two pastry sheets together, either fold or crimp to seal the sides.

4. Turn the pastry side-up, this time the rice side should be on top.
Then place the pastry in  your baking tray and into the freezer for about an hour to settle the pastry.

5. While freezing the pastry, pre-heat oven to 180 degrees with fan.
When oven is ready, take out the pastry, brush the top with slightly beaten eggyolk .
Bake for 20 minutes or until top of pasty turns brown.

6. When done, remove from oven and let it rest for at least 10 minutes before serving and slicing.

Note:  You can make this ahead, even a day before your party or dinner or lunch to save time, after all this has to be frozen before baking.

You can use blached vegetables instead or rice pilaff.  Best is blanched spinach, asparagus or broccoli.