Salmon en Croûte

(Serves 4)

This recipe is so easy and is a true show stopper; it tastes divine and can either be made the day before or frozen until you need it.

Time taken to prepare: 20mins (+15mins chilling time)
Oven temp: 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6 

Ingredients:

1 side of salmon (aprox 900g, skinned)
A little olive oil

75 g unsalted butter, softened

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

Generous handful of basil leavesSmall handful of rocket leaves

Sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 large tbsp wholegrain mustard

500 g puff pastry

plain flour, to dust

1 egg yolk, beaten

Method:

1. Check the salmon for pin bones, removing any that you find with tweezers, and cut in half. (The end that was nearer the head of the fish can often be much deeper than the tail end. As the the two halves of the fish need to stack on top of each other you may need to trim the deeper half, by taking some of the thinner lower edge off, so the two halves are more evenly matched.)
2. Line a baking tray with a lightly oiled piece of foil.
3. Mix the softened butter with the lemon zest, basil, rocket and some salt and pepper in a bowl.
4. Pat the salmon fillets dry with kitchen paper, then season lightly with salt and pepper. Spread the herb butter mix over one fillet, on the boned side, and the mustard evenly on the other fillet. Sandwich the two salmon fillets together, in opposite directions so both ends are of an even thickness.
5. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to a rectangle the thickness of a £1 coin and large enough to enclose the salmon. Put the salmon parcel in the centre of the pastry and brush the surrounding pastry with egg. Bring up the edges, trimming off any excess, and tuck them in before folding the rest of the pastry over to form a neat parcel. Carefully turn the whole thing over so that the seam is underneath and place on the prepared baking tray.
6. Brush the pastry with beaten egg. Lightly score a herringbone or cross-hatch pattern using the back of a knife. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover loosely and chill for 15 minutes or put in the freezer at this point.
7. If you have frozen the Salmon en Croûte then remove it from the freezer and leave to thaw slowly before baking.
8. Bake the salmon for 20 - 25 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown and crisp. To test if ready, insert a skewer into the middle. It should feel warm for medium cooked salmon. A piping hot skewer indicates that the fish is well done.
9. Rest the salmon for 10 minutes, then cut into portions using a serrated knife. Serve with hollandaise sauce, new potatoes and minted peas.

Hints, Tips and Alternatives:

• Use tarragon instead of basil and/or English mustard instead of grainy
• Cut the salmon into 4 equal sized pieces at step 5, and then make individual pastry parcels. (Cooking time may need to be reduced for this.)
• Recipe for freezable hollandaise will be published later in the blog!!