Friday 2 March 2012

Friday Feast - Salmon en Croute

Ha! Today's recipe was meant to be a cake. I baked it and then the two-legged mouse went in for the kill - big time! Ooops, cake almost demolished before I had a chance to take a photo :( A swift re-bake hasn't happened yet, but should be done ready for next week.

Meanwhile, today's recipe is fish, despite not being top of my list of favourite foods. The two-legged mouse loves fish though so I have to find recipes that I'd like and experiment a bit - this one was a hit earlier this week, even with me!
Salmon en Croute

Serves 4

150g mascarpone or cream cheese
1 bag watercress , spinach and rocket, about 120g
500g shortcrust pastry
500g piece salmon fillets , skinless
1 egg , beaten 
  1. Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Put the mascarpone or cream cheese in a food processor with the watercress, spinach and rocket and whizz the lot until you have a creamy green purée. Season well.
  2. Roll the pastry out so you can wrap the salmon in it completely (just a bit thinner than a £1 coin) and lay it on a buttered or oiled baking sheet (it will hang over the edges). Put the salmon in the middle. If it has a thinner tail end, tuck it under. Spoon half of the watercress mixture onto the salmon. Now fold the pastry over into a neat parcel (the join will be at the top, so trim the edge neatly), making sure you don't have any thick lumps of pastry as these won't cook through properly. Trim off any excess as you need to. Make 3 neat cuts in the pastry to allow steam to escape and make some decorations with the off-cuts to disguise the join if you like. Brush with the egg glaze.  
  3. Bake for 30 minutes or until the pastry is crisp and browned. To test whether the salmon is cooked, push a sharp knife through one of the cuts into the flesh, wait for 3 seconds then test it against the inside of your wrist; if it is hot, the salmon is cooked. Serve with the rest of the watercress purée as a sauce.
 Things I do:

For speed I used Jusrol frozen pastry - you could make your own of course, if so it's better to use butter for added richness.

The mascarpone cheese and green leaves purée is a lovely counterfoil to the sweetness of the salmon and pastry, but do be aware that rocket, watercress and spinach are all quite bitter leaves so you might want to reduce the proportion of leaves to cheese.

I served this with new potatoes and asparagus - and managed to fight the two legged mouse off long enough to take the above photo :)

Enjoy!

Di
x

14 comments:

  1. Salmon en Croute does it for me Di. Thanks for the recipe. What a chef you are :-)
    Hugs,
    A x

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  2. I don't like salmon but I think this would make a great side dish if I left it out.
    My two legged mouse burnt his tongue on an apple pie the other day. Told him to let it cold but he just couldn’t do it.
    Your Tuesday tale worked on my mind till I finally had a chip butty for lunch today. Yummy!
    Hugs
    Bernie

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  3. I'd certainly eat this, even though I'm not a big fish lover! LOOKS wonderful. xxx

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  4. Big on fish in this house ... especially salmon so I will certainly be giving this recipe a try! Sounds & looks absolutely delicious!!!! Debbie xXx

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  5. That looks really tasty Di, I'm also not a fish lover. If it tastes fishy I don't like it but if it doesn't I'm ok. How stupid!
    Hope you enjoyed xx

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  6. So tasty looking is this weeks dish Di, l will have to try this one as l have done most of your other dishes l really look forward to your recipes have a great weekend:)

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  7. Hello Di,
    Oh, I do love me some salmon! I did a blackened salmon last weekend. Yum. Your photo looks delicious.

    It's snowing here (again). I do see a ray of sunshine though.

    Hugs,
    Kay

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  8. Looks fab but I think I would prefer fish and chips, love tinned salmon but not fresh, strange eh?
    Becareful how you answer that!

    Kath x

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  9. I love salmon this looks soooo yummy!! Will be giving it a try, Hugs May x x x

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  10. Now look I'm on my way to the playground (cos I'm late again) and have had to make an unscheduled stop. My nose and eyes spy Salmon en Croute!!!! Anything fishy in this house is eaten before you can slap a wet fish around.
    Just sticking the bottle of wine in the fridge as we speak and then will be straight over for a bite (seeings as howIi know your local now!!!!!). Hugs Mrs A.

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  11. p.s. that should read of course
    how I not howl though I will be doing that if youve scoffed the lot!! Howls Mrs A.

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  12. Very yummy looking - love salmon and rocket is my all-time favourite green so this is one for me - with Jusrol, life's too short to make my it myself :)) Elizabeth x

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  13. This is exactly how I make it too!
    Try adding some pine nuts to the spinach mix sometimes. yum!

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  14. Mines a cooking as we speak. The Doc has the wine in the fridge cooling!! Will send a piccy of it down the air waves to you when its done.
    Hugs Mrs A.

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