Salmon en croute

Salmon en croute

I often make this when we have got friends around as it can be prepared in advance and then chilled until I need to cook it. I used to make it with couscous but have opted for quinoa more recently to make it more healthful. The ‘open’ pastry was a mistake as I didn’t have enough pastry the last time I cooked it, but I actually preferred it this way as it felt lighter. The fish still cooked beautifully – we just weren’t so full afterwards!

Preheat the oven to 180/350/gas 4. First, cook the quinoa. Place the finely cut vegetables in a saucepan and add the quinoa. Cover with 300ml water and a teaspoon bouillon. Bring to the boil and cook for 20 minutes. While the quinoa is cooking, place the washed spinach in a sieve or steamer on top of the quinoa and cook for 4 minutes.

Drain and stir in the chopped chives. Squuze out the excess water from the spinach and leave to the side to cool.

Line a baking tray with baking paper. Roll out the sheet of pastry out into a rectangle with the long side towards you. Place it on top of the paper. Put the quinoa in a long heap in the middle of the pastry. Layer the spinach roughly on top. Finally, add the salmon and squeeze over the lemon juice. Season with slat and pepper. Make sure that there is enough room on each  side of the pastry to wrap over like a parcel, leaving the middle of the salmon open.

Using a pastry brush, brush the milk all over the pastry and scatter over the seeds. Bake for 30 minutes.

All you need is a lovely green salad on the side and some tzatziki to go with it.

DOWNLOAD OR PRINT RECIPE HERE.