Stuffed salmon

My current culinary specialty seems to be stuffing food into other food. Continuing on that trend I present this recipe for Salmon Stuffed with Brie and Prawns.

Ingredients

1/4 pound of brie
A thick Fillet of salmon
1/4 pound of prawns, peeled, deveined and chopped into 1/2 inch peices
Fresh Basil
Fresh Oregano
Heavy Cream
Thinly sliced Shallots (one large shallot should be enough)
Bread crumbs
Butter
Salt
Pepper

Remove the bones and trim off the thinner portions from the thickest part of a salmon fillet. Lay the fillet skin-side down and Make an incision in the center of the fillet cutting half way through the fillet, and leaving a bit uncut on each end. At the base of this incision slice horizontally into the fish on each side, creating an envelope of sorts.

Cross section of fish properly cut

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Into this cavity stuff with the prawns and thin slices of brie cheese (use a little more than half of the total brie), and chopped fresh basil and oregano. lightly dust the fish with salt and pepper.
In a saucepan melt some butter, and lightly caramelize the shallots under medium-low heat, then add the remining brie and about 1/4 - 1/2 cup of heavy cream, with some more chopped basil and oregano, and a little bit of salt and pepper, be careful not to boil the cream, and whisk for a smooth consistency until the brie is melted.
Cover the salmon with about half of the sauce (pour some into the cavity as well) and cover liberally with breadcrumbs, place into a 375 degree (Ferenheit) oven until the salmon and prawns are cooked (this varies upon the thickness of the salmon, but is usually around 1/2 and hour). Serve with the remaining brie-cream sauce.

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Salmon can be stuffed with many things, I invite all the cooks out there to add their own stuffed salmon recipes to this node.

Salmon stuffed with cilantro-garlic cream cheese:

This is another cooking experiment which has won me a pleasant bit of praise from my family and most of my friends. It has few ingredients, and it's fairly easy to make. The only problem is that a significant number of people absolutely detest cilantro, so I wouldn't recommend this dish to just anyone.

Ingredients: 1. One or more fresh(!) salmon filets, skinned. 2. One or more cloves of garlic 3. Three or more Tbsp of softened Cream Cheese 4. Three or more stalks of cilantro, also known as Chinese parsley. 5. Salt

Peel and mince the garlic. You might be able to use garlic powder instead, but fresh minced garlic is better for this recipe.

As for the cilantro, remove the thicker stems, and mince the rest. If the chef has never tried cilantro by now, give it a big whiff. You should know by then whether you would ever eat it in a million years. In my experience, the dried stuff is nearly worthless, unfortunately, and it should only be used as a desperation move. I also wouldn't recommend the South American broad-leaved cilantro (a.k.a Culantro) for this dish because the texture is too thorny and intrusive. That stuff is great for salsa though, and good salsa is an easy way to taste heaven, in my opinion.

Thoroughly mix the garlic, cilantro, and cream cheese, then set aside. Butterfly the salmon filets. To the cooking-challenged, to butterfly means to slice it so it can be opened up like a book. Spread the cream cheese mixture into the salmon, and fold it back up.

Now to cook it: My favorite way is to put the filets into a grill cage, which is a hinged grill apparatus which holds the fillets together during grilling. I simply grill that over a medium flame on both sides until done. I've occasionally done it without the gadget, but there is a real danger that that everything will stick to the grill and get torn up in the process. To play it safe instead, I'd recommend broiling, or maybe even steaming. Sprinkle some salt on them during cooking.

Try serving with steamed asparagus covered with hollandaise sauce, vinaigrette salad, hot crusty bread, and a baked potato with butter.