Salmon en croûte

Salmon en croûte © dan & tuesy

This is a Jamie Oliver recipe from the BBC GoodFood magazine (December 2009). Elisabeth at work loaned me the magazine and it is filled with wonderful recipes including the florentines I made yesterday.

But I won’t talk about the florentines just yet. Maybe next post. So about the salmon en croûte, you’ll need big piece of salmon fillet. I am lucky that I live just a couple of minutes walk to the central market in Cardiff which has a fishmonger. I asked for a piece of fresh salmon fillet and they cut me a lovely piece.

Black olive tapenade on salmon fillet © dan & tuesy

You need:

• 500g all-butter puff pastry
• about 800g salmon fillet
• black olive tapenade paste
• bunch of fresh basil
• 2 ripe tomatoes, sliced
• 150g mozzarella cheese
• 1 large free-range egg
• olive oil
• salt and pepper

Tools:

• rolling pin
• 2 large baking tray
• baking sheet
• pre-heated oven at 200˚C

Salmon en croûte © dan & tuesy

What to do:

1. Drizzle olive oil on the salmon fillet and sprinkle some freshly ground pepper and salt.
2. Flour a work surface and then roll out the puff pastry about the size of the large baking tray. Dust the large baking tray with flour then place the puff pastry on the baking tray.
3. Put the seasoned salmon fillet on top of the pastry, skin-side down.
   

   Working the pastry © dan & tuesy

4. Spread black olive tapenade on top of the salmon then the basil and tomatoes. Tear the mozarella into pieces and put it on top, too! Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil.
5. Gather the sides of the pastry. Beat an egg and brush the pastry with egg.
6. Put the baking tray at the bottom of the preheated oven. Put a baking tray on the shelf above so that the pastry is not getting too much heat.
7. Cook for about 35-40 minutes and then serve with vegetables. We like roasted baby potatoes, steamed brocolli, and peas.

More photos here.

Salmon en croûte © dan & tuesy