The 2009 Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Simone of Junglefrog Cooking. Simone chose Salmon en Croute (or alternative recipes for Beef Wellington or Vegetable en Croute) from Good Food Online.

From the moment I first visited Simone’s lovely site, I knew I had met a kindred spirit. Besides being a passionate cook and baker, Simone is very warm and always welcoming. You can tell I’m a big fan.

I was thrilled when she agreed to host the December 2009 Daring Cooks’ challenge, and even more thrilled with her choice of Salmon en Croute.

For me, anything wrapped in pastry is a good thing.

I’m going to keep this short because the Christmas baking is a-callin’, but I chose to make the salmon because I love it and I don’t eat enough of it.

I took a beautiful salmon fillet, removed the skin and then coated it with a mixture of cream cheese, dandelion leaves, spinach leaves, green onion, salt and pepper. I lay the salmon on a bed of puff pastry that I’d had stored in the freezer. The puff pastry was homemade (thanks to the Daring Bakers making puff pastry from scratch is a breeze!) so all I had to do was defrost it.

I baked the pretty bundle at 400 degrees F. for about 30 minutes and I ended up with a beautiful golden package that was oozing cream cheese filling.

Quite simply, it was delicious! Had I known that making this dish was so easy, I would have tried it sooner.

Thank you, Simone!

Please take a moment and visit all the other Daring Cooks to see what they cooked up!

This is the final Daring Cooks’ challenge for 2009. For a group that got it’s start this year, I’d say we’ve done remarkably well. Here’s to 2010 and all the beautiful dishes waiting to be cooked!

Ciao!