Let’s cover it up, it is cold outside.

Another month, another challenge; for the month of December the Daring Cooks challenge was host by Simone of Junglefrog Cooking who chose the Salmon en Croute from Good Food Online.
Even if a bit in delay, I managed to join the caravan also this time. Tonight’s dinner was easily set, does not matter if I ended up eating at 10pm; fish is easy on your stomach.
The recipe was quite simple actually and the result very tasty! Here you are the instruction to follow if you want to reproduce this tasty parcel for your family, why not for Christmas lunch.

Salmon en croute:

Ingredients:

• Mascarpone or cream cheese 5.2 ounces/150 gr
• Watercress, rocket (arugula) and spinach - 0.6 cup/4.2 ounces/120 gr
• Shortcrust pastry - 17.6 ounces, 500 gr. Use a butter version such as Jus-rol which is frozen or dorset pastry. or... make your own!
• Salmon fillet (skinless)- 17.6 ounce/500 gr
• egg - 1 medium sized

Directions:
1.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.
2. Roll the pastry out so you can wrap the salmon in it completely (approx. 2-3 mm thick) and lay it on a buttered or oiled baking sheet (it will hang over the edges). Put the salmon in the middle. If it has a thinner tail end, tuck it under. Spoon half of the watercress mixture onto the salmon. Now fold the pastry over into a neat parcel (the join will be at the top, so trim the edge neatly), making sure you don’t have any thick lumps of pastry as these won’t cook through properly. Trim off any excess as you need to. Make 3 neat cuts in the pastry to allow steam to escape and make some decorations with the off-cuts to disguise the join if you like. Brush with the egg glaze.
3. 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.

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.
In my case, I decided to use layer pastry cause it was already late when I came back home today and as vegetable I went for spinaches. To give a bit more flavour to the condiment, I sautéed the spinaches with some butter and garlic before mixing them with the cream cheese. A touch of smoked salt and pepper created the balance. And here you have the results.

Give it a try, it is a very healthy and tasty dish that can easily convey a bit of festivity to every table.