I wanted a challenge. This was the perfect step outside of my comfort zone. Lots of little steps which kept me busy in the kitchen on a wet Sunday afternoon. The salmon was reduced in Morrisons and as we all know you shouldn’t purchase fish from the supermarkets on a Sunday or Monday as they take in no fresh deliveries. Ideal!

Having sat reading a cook book on Sunday morning with a cup of tea this recipe stood out. Taken from Rick Steins At Home cook book which was written in lockdown who better to turn to for a fish dish….good old Ricky!!! It’s certainly didn’t disappoint. Oh my days! Not only was this outside of my comfort zone playing with pastry but making a white wine sauce. As they say on Soccer Saturday – unbelievable Jeff!!

The recipe has three sets of ingredients.

Part one – a nice good sized piece of salmon cut into two, 1 large pack of shop bought puff pastry (can’t be doing with making my own as I have better things to do ☺️) 1 egg beaten with 1 tsp of water.

Part two – mushroom filling. 20g of unsalted butter, 1tsp of sunflower oil, 2 shallots finely diced, 300g of mushrooms (any mushroom of your choice) 120g mascarpone, zest of 1/2 a lemon, 3 or 4 tarragon sprigs, small handful of flat leaf parsley chopped, small handful of chives chopped, salt and pepper.

Part three -white wine sauce. 20g butter, 1 shallot finely diced, 100ml of wine and the rest for the chef, 300ml of stock, I used chicken stock, 150ml double cream, 40g of unsalted butter, 1tsp of chopped chives, 1tsp of chopped parsley.

To start, make the mushroom filling. Finely dice the mushrooms.

Heat the butter, once the butter has melted add the shallots and let them soften for a minute or so.

Stir in the mushrooms, the mushrooms will release water, cook until the water has evaporated leaving them nice and sticky. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Once cooked stir in the mascarpone, lemon zest, chopped herbs plus the salt and pepper and mix well. Once this is done set this aside.

For the pastry. Cut a piece of puff pastry in a rectangle bigger than your salmon fillets. Once the oven has reached its heat around 220c place your rectangle of puff pastry on a sheet of baking paper, prick the pastry with a fork and cook it for about 15 minutes or until nice and brown.

Allow the pastry to cool. Spread a level base of the mushroom mix on the pastry.

Place your salmon on the base of the mushroom mixture. I forgot to say, make sure you have removed the skin. As a little piece of flavour I placed a layer of spinach than needed using on top of the salmon. Place the other fillet of salmon on top then cover the whole salmon with the remaining mushroom mixture.

Cut a large piece of the puff pastry, wrap the piece of pastry over the salmon and tuck it under the precooked base. You can used a small spoon to mark the pastry to make it look like scales if you’re feeling fancy!!

Egg wash the parcel, wrap it in clingfilm and place it in the fridge to firm up for 30 minutes. At this point you can start the prep for the sauce plus whatever you want to have with the dish.

The white wine sauce is so simple to make and so rewarding which it the perfect way to finish the dish. Before you take in your sauce put your salmon parcel in the oven and bake for 30 minutes at 200c.

Melt the butter in the pan, once melted add your diced shallots.

Cook down the shallots until nice and soft.

Add the white wine bringing it to the boil then reduce by a 1/3.

Add the stock and cream then bring back to the boil.

Once simmering add the remaining butter, a small cube at a time whisking as you do. Then add your chopped herbs and stir keeping warm until you need it occasionally stirring.

Remove your parcel from the oven when it’s cooked and allow it to rest for 10 minutes or so, this gives you time to finish of the rest of your cooking and plate up.

The artist foodie shot is the wellington with sauce and pea shoots.

The reality is….I served mine with new potatoes, green beans and carrots…..plus gin!!!

Thank you for reading. Plus a big thank you to Rick Stein for sharing this delightful dish.