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Salmon en croute is right up there with beef wellington when it comes to the perfect festive dish to serve for Christmas or any other festive occasion.
Salmon en croute
Remember all the way back when everyone was participating in the Daring Cooks challenges? This salmon en croute was my recipe when I hosted the challenge. I found the recipe on BBC Good Food and we all used this particular recipe to make the salmon en croute.
The 2009 Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Simone of Simone’s Kitchen. Simone chose Salmon en Croute (or alternative recipes for Beef Wellington or Vegetable en Croute) from Good Food Online.
Salmon en croute with short crust pastry
The best dough for making the salmon is short crust pastry. You can buy that in stores or make your own. Below you will find a simple recipe for making it yourself. When I did the test for this recipe it was the first time I ever attempted to make short crust pastry and the first batch was less than perfect. So in the end I made the crust with puff pastry. Which is also a perfectly good solution. One thing to keep in mind is that you do not want your pastry to become too wet and soggy.
Making the cream cheese sauce
Watercress was not available at the time of making the recipe for the first time so I went with lamb lettuce which is very different in terms of taste. Make sure to not overturn the sauce as you do not want it too loose. You want a fairly firm mixture. Just a brief blend is fine. Or chop the watercress by hand and use a fork to mix it through the mascarpone to be on the safe side.
Instead of the watercress you can also use either spinach or arugula (rocket) Both will work well in the salmon en croute.
Seasoning the salmon
Before you close the pastry over the salmon en croute you want to make sure that you’ve seasoned your salmon well. Some salt and pepper is all that it needs. Plus make sure you season the mascarpone mix equally well too. Chill the package in the fridge for about half and hour before placing in the oven. Poke a few holes in the pastry to let air and steam get out of the package.
Salmon en croute
Ingredients
- 150 g Mascarpone or cream cheese
- 120 g Water cress rocket (arugula) and spinach
- 500 g Shortcrust pastry Use a butter version such as Jus-rol which is frozen or dorset pastry. or… make your own (recipe below)
- 500 g Salmon fillet skinless
- 1 egg medium
Short crust pastry
- 450 gr all purpose flour
- 200 gr cold butter
- pinch of salt
How to make salmon en croute
- Heat the oven to 200°C/390˚F. 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 puree. Season well.
- Roll out the pastry so that you can completely wrap the salmon in it (about 2-3 mm thick) and place it on a buttered or oiled baking tray (it will hang over the edges). Place the salmon in the centre. If it has a thinner tail end, tuck it under. Spoon half of the watercress mixture over the salmon. Fold the pastry into a neat package (the seam will be at the top, so trim the edges neatly), making sure you don't have any thick lumps of pastry as these won't cook properly. Trim off any excess if necessary. Make 3 neat cuts in the pastry to allow the steam to escape, and use the scraps to make some decorations to hide the joins if you like. Brush with the egg glaze.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until the pastry is crisp and browned. To test wether 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 puree as a sauce.
Short crust pastry
- Sift the flour into a large bowl, add the butter and rub in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. If you have a food processor you can use that as shown in the above video.
- Stir in the salt, then add 2-3 tbsp of water and mix to a firm dough. Knead the dough briefly and gently on a floured surface. Wrap in cling film and chill while preparing the filling.
- For best results make sure the butter is very cold.
Nutrition Information per portion:
Disclaimer:
The nutritional values above are calculated per portion. The details are based on standard nutritional tables and do not constitute a professional nutritional advice.
