Salmon en Croute


Serves 6

Preparation Time:  45 minutes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes


Delicious served with baby salad potatoes dressed with butter and fresh chopped parsley,

together with a dressed salad and or season baby vegetables and served with Hollandaise sauce..

The English asparagus season only lasts eight weeks and is officially over on 21st June, so

it is fine to substitute with other fillings such as watercress, spinach (but take care to steam and remove all

excess water from the vegetable)

It is worth taking trouble over this dish as attention to detail like trimming off the excess

pastry and carefully sealing edges and brushing the whole pie with egg makes

a huge difference for presentation purposes.   

Using the trimmings, you can cut out leaf designs or create a trellis, as I have done.

This dish can be prepared and assembled in advance and kept in the fridge,

but brush with egg immediately before baking in the oven.

Ingredients

For the Filling

• 25g / 1oz butter
• 2 packs of asparagus, trimmed (or use a whole pack of baby spinach leaves barely wilted in a steamer)
• 1 heaped tablespoon fresh finely chopped tarragon leaves (or dried)
• One small bunch of flat leaved parsley, finely chopped
• 5-6 Spring Onions or scallions, trimmed and chopped into small segments
• 140g pack of cream cheese
• Yolk of one egg
• Finely grated zest of one lemon
• (or instead of the cream cheese, yolk and lemon zest, you could use a whole jar Hollandaise sauce - or make your own)

For the Fish

• 4 generous skinless salmon fillets (we used Atlantic Sock-eyed Salmon fillets)
• Sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

For the Pastry

• 2 x 340g packs of frozen puff pastry (thawed)
• l large egg, beaten (to brush over the pastry case)

Optional Sauce to accompany if not using Holandaise

• 25g / 1oz butter
• 1 tablespoon plain flour
• small glass of white wine
• seasoning
• One tablespoon of fresh chopped or dried tarragon and or Chervil
• 2-3 tablespoons cream

AND THIS IS WHAT YOU DO....

1.   Pre heat the oven  200C/ Fan 180C/Gas 5.
   
   
2.  Asparagus can be substituted with watercress, rocket and baby spinach leaves if preferred.   If using spinach, steam for 1-2 minutes to barely wilt and ensure all excess water is removed.
   
   
3.  Melt the butter in a large saucepan and add the tarragon allowing to infuse for a few minutes.    Take off the heat and allow to cool for a bit.   Please note that if you use Hollandaise sauce, then skip this instruction and simply stir the herbs and spring onions into the Hollandaise sauce before spooning the mixture onto the fish, then set aside.
   
   
4.  Put the lemon zest, parsley, tarragon, spring onions, egg yolk, seasoning and cream cheese into a clean mixing bowl and add a little butter, stirring well, but keeping a reasonable texture for spreading (or substitute using Hollandaise, prepared as in 3., above) - set aside.
   
   
5.   Roll out the two pasty rectangles on to a lightly floured surface.    I found the Jus Roll ones were exactly the right size.
   
   
6.  Place one pastry sheet onto a floury baking sheet.
   
   
7.  Season the fish, arrange the fillets side by side as shown on the image above, leaving a small border for sealing.
   
   
8.  Pile the cheese mixture (or Hollandaise sauce and herbs) on top of the fish.
   
   
9.  Now lay the asparagus tips over the top, one lot on top of the first two fillets and the rest on the second two fillets. I divided the asparagus into four sections so that the tips and ends were evenly distributed.
   
   
10. Using a pastry brush, paint a border on the bottom layer of pastry ready to form a tight seal - as shown above.
    
    
11. Now carefully cover the fish with the second sheet of pastry and tuck in all the edges firmly so that no juices can seep out.
    
    
12. Take a sharp knife and carefully trim away all the excess pastry all the way round.
    
    
13. Finally, using your thumb and finger, or you could use a fork, pinch the edges all the way round to ensure a tight seal and also it looks attractive.
    
    
14. Finally brush the top of the pie generously with the remaining egg mixture - this will ensure a perfect golden finish when it comes out of the oven.   At this stage, you can store this in the fridge, even the day before.
    
    
15. Bake for about 20 minutes until puffed and golden.
    
    
16. To make the sauce, add a tbs plain flour to the melted butter and tarragon and then add a small amount of whole milk to make a roux.     Stir continuously to remove all lumps.    Now add a small glass of white wine and a little seasoning, and keep stirring.   You may need to add a little more butter or a small amount of flour to get the right consistency - finally add 2-3 tbs double cream.
    
    
17. Remove from the oven and serve with a cream and white wine sauce flavoured with tarragon, and serve with hot baby salad potatoes tossed in butter and freshly chopped parsley, together with a mustard and honey vinaigrette salad.   When dividing up portions, be sure to slice away both end portions of pastry, so you just get clean slices of fish and filling from the remaining central section.