Salmon & Mushroom Pithivier – gluten free (made with Jus-Rol GF Puff Pastry)

This Salmon and Mushroom Pithivier is one of my all time favourite pies! I have been making it for well over 20 years and it has always been a regular dish on my dinner table, especially for Sunday lunch and special occasions. It has the ability to wow guests, yet if you are using a ready made puff pastry, has to be one of the simplest spectacular mains with which to woo those you are entertaining.

This pie doesn’t have the same impact with non-puff pastry however. Puff pastry is the key to a light, crisp, flaky exterior and an attractiveness that leaves the mouth watering and desperate to eat.

And there lies the rub…. For those of us who are gluten free, puff pastry is either a long and arduous job to make (you can find a recipe I use here), or you need a decent commercially made gluten free ready to roll or ready-rolled pastry to hand. Whilst these are now starting to be produced, they are quite a recent addition to the free-from cabinets in supermarkets, so for many years, I have been deprived of my beloved Salmon and Mushroom Pithivier.

I have gone out of my way to try any commercial puff pastry I have found and my verdict is that they vary considerably, both in ingredients, flavour and results. With those you roll yourself, the flakiness can be a little hit and miss (dependent on your success in rolling them first time) and their ability to roll can leave me wanting to throw them out of the window and revert to making the pastry myself (long and arduous as that may be….)

Even before I was gluten free, when it came to ready to use puff pastry I was always a ‘ready rolled’ girl. It was just easier and the outcome was better…. both edibly and emotionally! So finding Jus-Rol ready-rolled gluten free puff pastry sheets has been a real boon to expanding my dinner-table, gluten free ‘quick but impressive dish’ repertoire.

I have used it in a few recipes across the blog now (see the list below) and I have mostly been really happy with it. The baked texture is pretty good and the biggest bonus of all is that it is ready-rolled (the only ready-rolled GF pastry I have thus far found……)

Those of you who have read previous posts will know that initially I was rather amused (and bemused) that Jus-Rol deemed it necessary to make their gluten free pastry sheets round, when everyone else had far more practical and useable rectangular pastry sheets. Whilst this caused me much irritation, depending on what I was making, I took to seeing it as ‘good sport’ to come up with round pastry dishes on which to use the stuff. Less waste and less frustration has to be good for the planet and for your blood pressure, so it’s a win-win right?

Pithivier has got to be a natural choice for a circular piece of pastry (although they can also be made into squares and rectangles too) and this one is stuffed full of delicious fresh salmon, button mushrooms and a sprinkling of complementary tarragon. Not only is it amazingly good to eat and incredibly simple to prepare, but it shouts ‘show-stopper’ and makes you look really clever when you set it on the table.

This Pithivier is quick enough to make as a mid-week meal, yet fancy enough to eat at a celebratory feast. It feeds at least 6 and if there’s any left over, is also perfect as a next day cold lunch too!

Of course no sooner than I share this with you, I have discovered that all our complaining about the unusualness of round pastry sheets has been heard….. Having decided to make one of these lovely pies for tea, I went out to buy a second pack of pastry as I already had one (round) pack in the fridge and I needed two to make it….. But guess what? Jus-Rol has re-shaped their gluten free puff and it now comes as a rectangle! Yay!

I am sharing my Salmon & Mushroom Pithivier with the following linkies :

Brilliant Blog Posts with Honest Mum

Cook Once Eat Twice with Searching For Spice

Inheritance Recipes with Coffee & Vanilla and Pebble Soup

Other recipes made with Jus-Rol Puff Pastry on Gluten Free Alchemist :
Sun-Dried Tomato, Parmesan and Walnut Puff Pastry Whirls
Spanakopita Galette
Quick & Easy Pizza Galette

Salmon & Mushroom Pithivier (serves at least 6)

Ingredients