Salmon en croute recipe – a classic, little salmon parcels lovingly enveloped in puff pastry and layered with a rich mushroom sauce.
For my salmon en croute recipe, instead of making little individual salmon parcels I always use a whole side of salmon. The reason? Simple, deep down I’m an exhibitionist and like the drama of serving it on a platter in the middle of the table… yes, I did just say that.
Salmon en croute is a classic dish but you can freestyle how you like and no one can resist a fresh, homemade salmon en croute! My salmon en croute recipe uses a mushroom topping but it works equally well with a rich tomato paste (see bottom of recipe).
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Salmon en croute recipe – Ingredients:
1 whole side of salmon (skin removed)
Puff pastry (ready made)
1 egg whisked (egg wash)
Flour for dusting
Few sprigs of rosemary
Topping (paste):
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon english mustard
Topping (mushroom sauce):
2 handfuls of button mushrooms finely diced
1 onion finely diced
2 cloves of garlic finely diced
Small handful of dried mushrooms
Handful finely chopped parsley
Tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
Olive oil
Salmon en Croute Recipe – Method:
Make sauce (mushroom topping):
- First things first – hydrate your dried mushrooms by pouring just enough boiling water to cover the mushrooms and leave for 5-10 minutes. Once softened squeeze as much juice out of the dried mushrooms as you can and dice, reserving the juice for later.
- On medium low heat, add a glug of extra virgin olive oil and fry the diced onion for 5-10 minutes until sweated down and just turning in colour. Then add the porcini mushrooms for a few more minutes, then add the rest of the diced mushrooms (add a little more olive oil if needed) stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes or until they have sweated down.
- Then add the reserved juice from the dried mushrooms (careful not to pour it all in as it will have some sediment at the bottom) and the balsamic vinegar, once this has reduced to almost nothing; season well and stir in your parsley and remove from the heat.
- This should be a thick, rich consistency with just enough liquid to keep it moist (almost a jam type consistency).
Prepare salmon:
While your mushroom sauce is cooling off, prepare your salmon.
- Clean and remove any bones from the salmon fillet (I also scrape the underside a little to remove any goey bits) and season well all over.
- Make paste – mix together the honey and mustard and paste over the top of the salmon with the back of a spoon, just enough to coat it.
- Now prepare your pastry. Simply dust a table with the flour and roll out your store-bought puff pastry until it is about 1/2 cm thick and is about twice the size of your salmon fillet.
Assemble:
This is the fun bit!
- Spoon out your mushroom sauce over the top of the salmon and push it down a bit to hold it in place – you can be generous with this!
- Once done, slide a large fish knife under the salmon fillet (and then your hand and most of your arm depending on how big the side of salmon is) – you are going to flip it (gently) on to the middle of your puff pastry. Don’t panic and don’t get flamboyant when you do this; just gently but quickly turn it over onto your puff pastry (keep the salmon low so you don’t slap it down from a great height).
- Now gently, but quickly, fold in the edges of your pastry over the underside of the salmon and overlapping the pastry to seal it (you can cut some of the excess away).
- Now turn your salmon en croute over again so the salmon fillet is the right way up; onto a lightly oiled baking tray or piece of foil.
- Poke a few holes in the pastry to let the steam out when cooking, maybe cut a few cute looking fish shapes and stick them on top. Wipe all over with the egg wash, season and finish with a few sprigs of rosemary over the top.
- Place into a pre-heated oven at 180c degrees for about 30 minutes (this will depend on how big your salmon side is; but 30 minutes usually does it) and your pastry should be golden.
- Remove from the oven and let rest for 5 minutes.
Goes well with crushed new potatoes with fresh mint, runner beans and a healthy dollop of horseradish-mayonnaise and of course a sharp intake of air as your diners gasp in shock at the aesthetic beauty of a whole side of salmon en croute being delivered to the table (I’ll make an exhibitionist out of you as well!)!
Please note – I’ve made my salmon en croute recipe with a mushroom topping. This also works really well with a simple tomato paste. Fry a diced onion in some olive oil until golden then add a couple of cloves of sliced garlic, tin of good quality passata and a tablespoon of tomato puree and half a tin of water. Simmer for 30 minutes until very reduced and thick.