Salmon & Portobello Pie with Horseradish Sour Cream Crust

Prepare Horseradish Crust dough per Sour cream Pastry Recipe. Exception: Use less than one cup of sour cream. Add 3 tablespoons of prepared horseradish first, then add the necessary amount of sour cream for the dough form a soft mass, not too wet. Refrigerate for at least one hour.

Pie filling:

Ingredients

1 lb hot smoked salmon

4 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons flour

1 lb baby portobellos, sliced

Vegetable or your choice: artichoke hearts (quartered), frozen peas (one cup), spinach or swiss chard (1 lb, sautéed with mushrooms)

4 garlic cloves minced

1 ¾ chicken broth or vegetable stock

¼ half and half or milk

1 teaspoon salt, additional to taste

3 teaspoons dried tarragon leaves

1 teaspoon Dijon-style mustard

3 tablespoons sherry

To Assemble Pie:

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in heavy, non-stick deep skillet over medium heat. Saute sliced portobellos in butter until mushrooms lose their water, about 10 minutes, add garlic and continue to sauté until garlic is fragrant, about 2 minutes. Once mushrooms have released their liquid, shift to a separate dish and reserve.

In same pan add the remaining 3 tablespoons of butter. Stir over medium heat until melted. Stir in flour one tablespoon at a time, and cook slowly, stirring. This is the roux.

Let the flour flavor cook out, about 2 minutes. Slowly stir in the broth and light cream or milk. Then add seasonings to your desired taste: additional salt (remember the smoked salmon will be salty), tarragon, mustard, and sherry. Add additional broth as necessary to reach desired consistency of sauce for pie. I like a medium thickness that isn’t too runny when I cut into the pie, but not so thick that it stands up on its own like pudding. Somewhere in between. Adding the sherry helps to thin the consistency too, but too much sherry can make the flavors bitter. But taste as you go! That’s what spoons are for. Continue stirring over medium heat until the sauce is how you like it. Turn the burner to its lowest setting to keep the sauce warm, and occasionally stir, while you work on the rest of the pie.

Roll out the bottom crust to the desired size of the pan. This recipe makes one 10-inch pan or 3 5-inch individual pans, or 5 3-inch pans double crusts. It’s pretty rich so the smaller pies or the one big pie to serve your friends.

On the bottom of the crust lay out the salmon broken into 1-inch pieces. Drain water from reserved mushrooms, as they will have produced more while waiting. Spread the mushroom mixture on top of the salmon. Vegetable of your choice on the next layer. Spoon the sauce over the ingredients.

Roll out and place the top crust on the pie. Crimp edges decoratively or mash with a fork. Bake at 425 degrees for 35 minutes, or until a knife jabbed in the center comes out bubbling hot.

Serve with an arugula salad with lemon dressing. The lemon is delicious with the salmon.