With homemade puff pastry around a salmon and cream cheese filling this salmon en croute is a great recipe for a date night or special occasion. If you like indulgent fish recipes then this is perfect.
Sieve the flour and salt into a bowl. Cut the butter into small pieces and add to the bowl. Rub the butter into the flour but not as much as with normal pastry. Leave relatively large lumps of butter.
Add the water a little at a time and mix with a knife so it binds together and forms a dough. You probably won't need all the water. cover the dough in cling film and put in the fridge for 20 minutes.
Flour the work surface, your hands and the rolling pin. Give the dough a quick knead and then roll it out. Roll in one direction only so you get a long thin piece of pastry in which you can see streaks of butter. Fold the top half down by one third and then fold the bottom half up.
Turn the dough around by 90 degrees then roll out again and repeat the process twice more.Put the folded up dough back in the fridge for about half an hour.
Roll out the dough. This time I did roll it in both directions as it would have been the wrong shape if I hadn't.
If necessary remove the skin and any bones from the salmon. Season. Place the salmon on the pastry.
Using a fork, mash the chives into the cream cheese. Season with black pepper. Then, spread the top of the salmon with the cheese mixture. Fold the pastry around the salmon and seal the edges of the parcel well. Use a fork to fold slightly and press the edges together. Cut away any excess pastry. Make slits on top of the pastry so excess steam can escape.
Bake the parcels in the oven at about 200°c for 35 minutes.
Serve the salmon with salad or vegetables.
Notes
Nutritional information is approximate and a guideline only.