Festive Shrimp and Salmon Pizza

Who wants pizza?

In many cultures, seafood is a special treat during the Christmas season. It's always a welcome treat at our table and so we were tickled to find this recipe.  It's festive, a bit different, special, yet suitable for a relaxed get together. What could be better when friends or family arrive for a meal during this time of year?   Everyone wants it, even some who are not actually supposed to eat it. Luckily, there are other treats for them.

This recipe is inspired by one in the 2018 Milk Calendar. The illustrated recipe calendar is an annual publication from the Dairy Farmers of Canada. I love the calendar, look forward to it every year and have many faves from it. Of course, I changed a few ingredients and directions to match with what I had on hand. 

Ingredients

2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed

1 pound frozen peeled shrimps, thawed and squeezed dry (don’t skip that step!)

4 tbsp  butter

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tbsp all-purpose flour

1 tsp thyme leaves

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup whole milk

6 ounces smoked salmon, thawed if frozen

1/2 red bell pepper

1 1/2 cups shredded Mozzarella

½ cup crumbled Feta

3 green onions, sliced (white and green)
chopped parsley (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 425°F. Unroll thawed pastry and place sheets side by side (overlapping slightly to form pizza crust) to fit on a large parchment-lined baking sheet. Press overlapped dough together so it sticks. 

Prick all over with a fork. Fold and press ½ inch of pastry all around outside edge to form a rim. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Squeeze out excess water from shrimp. Place in paper towel then gently squeeze again.  

Melt 2 tbsp butter in sauté pan and add green onions.  Cook for two minutes. Add shrimp and cook until just barely pink.  Cool. 

Melt another 2 tbsp butter in a medium pot over medium heat. Add garlic; cook 1 min. 

Sprinkle with flour, thyme and salt. Whisk until smooth.  Gradually whisk in milk. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, whisking for 2 min or until smooth and thickened. 

Turn into a bowl and refrigerate.

Slice salmon crosswise.

 Chop red pepper into ½-inch pieces. 

Remove pastry from fridge. Thinly spread with cooled milk sauce. Sprinkle with half the Mozzarella. Scatter with red pepper. Add shrimp, smoked salmon and remaining Mozzarella and all the Feta. Toss chopped parsley here and there.

Bake 18 min or until a deep golden brown.

 Let stand for 5 min before slicing. 

You can slice this into small squares for appetizers, but we enjoyed large squares for lunch.  There was none left over to get a picture of the small squares. Oops!   

We liked this enough that we plan to make it again soon.  It can be varied in many ways and it does help to deal with the puff pastry so many of us have taunting us from the freezer.

Now comes the tough part:  Most of you know that Victoria Abbott is a collaboration between Mary Jane Maffini and her writer and artist daughter, Victoria. We are both sad to say that this will be our final post as a regular here on Mystery Lovers Kitchen and we will miss you all.  We hope to be back as a guest in the future when there’s book (or food) news.  Victoria and I have loved our interactions and all your comments.  We’ve made great friends with our talented and kind-hearted fellow writers here in ‘the kitchen’ and with so many of you readers too.  We hope you’ll stay in touch with us on Facebook Mary Jane and, Victoria Abbott    AND if you haven’t already done it, that you’ll sign up for our newsletter HERE. Your name will be in the sign-up draw!

Don't forget to try our books!

Make sure you are here ‘in the kitchen’  in January when you’ll get to meet our newest colleague in our AROUND THE KITCHEN TABLE post. We snagged a terrific cozy writer for the team and you’ll be very happy with the BIG REVEAL.  

Until then, from us and our festive pets, put your feet up and have the best of holidays with wonderful food, family, friends and plenty of mysteries.   

Much love,  

Mary Jane and Victoria