Lemon-basil salmon turnovers

For savory turnovers, I don't believe anything can beat a cream cheese pastry crust.  Rich, smooth, flaky but without any of the sweetness common to many pastry recipes, it pairs well with meats, fish and vegetables.  Adding herbs to the dough can provide a real complement to your filling as well!

Basic cream cheese pastry:
8 oz cream cheese
1 c butter
1.5 c flour

Mix together cream cheese and butter until well blended.  Mix in flour until fully incorporated.  Pat into ball; refrigerate while making filling.

For the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary yesterday, I made a lemon-basil salmon filling for our turnovers.  I'm not sure what kind of salmon I used; it was shared by one of my parents' friends.  Anything made with salmon is of course better when you use Alaskan red (sockeye) salmon, but you can probably come pretty close to what we had last night by using whatever salmon is available near you.  :-)

2 T butter
1/2 medium onion, chopped
8 T lemon juice, divided
3 T dried basil
1 to 1.5 c cooked salmon, flaked
1/2 c ricotta

Saute onion in butter with 2 T lemon juice; when onions become translucent, add basil and remaining 6 T lemon juice.  Cook off most of the liquid.  On lowest heat, add salmon.  Simmer 3-5 minutes.

Remove from heat and fold in ricotta.  Roll out dough to approx. 1/4" thickness and cut into 3" rounds.  Place moderate amount of filling on one side of each round; fold over and pinch edges to seal.  Prick tops with fork to allow steam to escape.  Bake at 350 F for 15 min or until edges begin turning golden brown.

If you'd prefer, you can put the unbaked turnovers in the freezer to use later; if baking frozen pastries, expect them to take an additional 5-10 minutes in the oven.