Salmon en croute
See this recipe step by step

Salmon en croute

If anyone can solve your cooking dilemma it's Gordon Ramsay. This recipe is an impressive and inexpensive fish main course

Difficulty and servings

Moderately easy

Serves 6

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 1 hr

Cook time

Cook 1 hr

Plus cooling and chilling

Method

  1. To make the crêpes, whizz the flour, egg and milk with a pinch of salt in a blender until smooth. Pour into a jug and stir in the herbs and some black pepper. Leave to rest for 30 minutes.
  2. Stir the melted butter into the crêpe batter, and heat a little butter in a 20cm crêpe pan. Pour in enough batter to make a thin layer on the base of the pan, cook until the top surface sets and then turn over and cook briefly. Remove and repeat with the rest of the batter to make 6 thin pancakes. If you have any mixture left keep going and choose the 6 best.
  3. Fry each piece of salmon briefly on each side in a hot pan with a little olive oil, just to start it cooking, then lift out carefully, brush with a little mustard, and chill. Fry the mushrooms in the butter until they are soft and all the liquid has evaporated, then purée coarsely in a food processor.
  4. Bring the rice, saffron and stock to the boil and simmer until there is no liquid left, then stir in the mascarpone, parmesan and chives so that the rice is spreadable. Chill until cool.
  5. To assemble, lay out the pancakes on sheets of clingfilm, then spread one half of each with mushrooms and the other half with rice (I do this as a neat block shape but you don't have to). SEE STEP 1 IMAGE. Roll up the pancake and fold in the sides, then roll the whole lot tightly in the clingfilm and rest for a few minutes in the fridge.
  6. Roll out each pastry portion to 2mm thick, trim to a square and lay each on a large sheet of clingfilm. Remove the clingfilm from the salmon parcels and place each in the middle of a sheet of pastry, then brush the edges with egg wash and wrap like a present, folding the ends under and trimming off any excess, so that all the joins are underneath. SEE STEP 2 IMAGE. Wrap clingfilm tightly around the parcels, twisting it at each end like a giant sweet. Rest for 5 minutes in the fridge, or leave them in the fridge if you don't want to cook them until later.
  7. When you're ready to cook them, heat the oven to 220C/fan 190C/gas 7 and put a baking sheet in the oven. take the clingfilm off and glaze the pastry twice with the egg wash, putting it back in the fridge for 5 minutes to set between glazings. Mark out a pattern with a sharp knife if you like. SEE STEP 3 IMAGE. Space them well apart on a baking sheet and bake on top of the preheated sheet for 15 minutes for pink in the middle and 20 minutes for just cooked. Rest for 10 minutes. to serve, cut each parcel in half. I would trim off the ends but you don't have to. Arrange neatly on a plate with salad.
Try

Making ahead

You can make these ahead of time and cook them just before dinner, then leave them to rest while you eat your starter.

Per serving

882 kcalories, protein 40.9g, carbohydrate 57.6g, fat 55.7 g, saturated fat 24g, fibre 2.5g, salt 1.96 g

Recipe from olive magazine, June 2010.

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Latest comments and suggestions

  • Binder photo Adam

    05 July 2010

    Adam rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This one needs a lot of effort put into the prep but it is so worth it! I made this for friends this weekend and the recipe works perfectly and the result has a certain wow factor. Impressed!

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  • Binder photo moocameron

    25 April 2011

    moocameron commented on this recipe

    Hi I'm looking for some help with this one as I want to cook it on Friday and I'm a little confused. The photo clearly shows the salmon encased with the mushroom mixture on the top and the rice mixture on the bottom before being wrapped in the pastry. However, to me, the recipe states that the pancakes are separate from the salmon and that it is the pancakes that are filled with the mushroom and rice mixture before being rolled and chilled, not the salmon. Could someone please help??

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  • Binder photo Tai5605

    29 June 2011

    Tai5605 commented on this recipe

    Moocameron - I read it the same until I clicked on the arrow that said see recipe step by step and it shows you in detail how it should look. I loved the recipe and can't wait to use it for a dinner party

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  • Binder photo herindoors2

    29 December 2011

    herindoors2 commented on this recipe

    This is fabulous and a definite dinner party winner BUT not for the faint hearted as lots of skills are required! The pancakes are trickly - too thin and they break, too thick and they're rubbery!! (We found that the recipe did not provide enough mixutre to make the required number of pancakes.) A word of warning - the portions are very generous and some may prefer half portions and if you're able to suggest you prepare well in advance because this recipe is "moderately taxing" rather than easy.......

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  • Binder photo Abby Alessandrelli

    07 March 2012

    Abby Alessandrelli rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    My husband made this following the recipe in the Italian edition of Gordon Ramsay's Sunday Lunch and F Word Recipes. I am pretty sure he didn't use rice or pancakes though so perhaps it was a slightly different version, however, the result looked very very impressive and tasted divine! The next dinner party we (well, he) will cook this. I reheated the remains for my lunch the next day in the microwave, I was worried that it would ruin it, making the pastry soggy and the salmon overcooked, but it was still pretty good!

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  • Binder photo Xiang

    13 October 2012

    Xiang commented on this recipe

    Very amazing idea for salmon...this food very light n i never got this idea before...

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  • Binder photo drz

    07 November 2012

    drz rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Amazing! Everybody just loved this dish. Its easy to finish up and serve, which is a big plus: the chef can talk to the guests instead of cooking all night! The downside is the prep-time. It took much, much longer than the 1 hour of preparation. Each step is relatively simple but together they take a lot of time, especially if you do it through trial and error (especially the crepes required some training before they were perfect: prepare a larger batch just in case). Also simple things like deboning and deskinning take time... I put in too much stuffing in them and had too big chunks of fish, which meant that not all "packages" were closed properly. I just hid the opening underneath. This did not however affect the looks or the taste of the finished product. I would recommend this dish to someone with a lot of time, pretty good skills in the kitchen and who wants to do the prepping well in advance of the guests' arrival.

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  • Binder photo Maz

    17 November 2012

    Maz commented on this recipe

    Can someone tell me what type of pastry was used. Thank you

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  • Binder photo mightycooklady

    14 March 2013

    mightycooklady commented on this recipe

    This recipe is fine but when you cook be careful about timing give it more 5-7 minutes. otherwise pastry will be uncooked.

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Difficulty and servings

Moderately easy

Serves 6

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 1 hr

Cook time

Cook 1 hr

Plus cooling and chilling

Ingredients

  • 6 salmon fillets , 130g portions, skinned and pin-boned (you want short, fat pieces rather than long skinny ones)
  • olive oil
  • 1½ tsp English mustard
  • 300g chestnut mushrooms , washed and quartered
  • 50g butter
  • 120g carnaroli rice , blanched for 7 minutes in boiling water
  • saffron strands
  • 200ml vegetable stock
  • 4 tbsp mascarpone
  • 1 tbsp grated parmesan
  • 1 tbsp chopped chives
  • 500g puff pastry , divided into 6

FOR THE HERB CREPES

  • 100g plain flour
  • 1 egg
  • 250ml milk
  • 1 handful chervil , chives and tarragon, chopped
  • 1 tbsp butter , melted

FOR THE EGG WASH

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Per serving

882 kcalories, protein 40.9g, carbohydrate 57.6g, fat 55.7 g, saturated fat 24g, fibre 2.5g, salt 1.96 g

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