Trout En Croûte

Recipe credit to  @thekatiepix on Facebook and Instagram! 

 Difficulty: Moderate

Ingredients

• 1 small red onion, finely diced
•  3 cloves garlic, finely sliced
•  400g frozen spinach / 600g fresh spinach 
•  1 x 320g sheet of all-butter puff pastry
•  2 x Butler Country Estates smoked trout fillets, skinned and deboned 
•  2 tbsp pesto 
•  2 lemons, zest of
•  60g cream cheese
•  1 egg, beaten 
•  salt and pepper for seasoning 

Method

Start by softening your onions and garlic in a large pan. Once soft and a little golden, add the spinach and wilt down. Keep squeezing the spinach to help drain excess moisture and continue cooking until you have evaporated the majority of your spinach liquid.

Stir in your pesto, the zest of a lemon and season generously (give it a taste!).

Roll out your pastry and cut it in half crosswise.

Spoon a generous dollop of spinach to the centre of each pastry half, leaving a generous border. If you have a thick trout fillet you can lay this straight on top of your spinach, alternatively, I like to cut my fillets in half and stack them.

Sprinkle each fillet generously with salt and pepper. Smooth over some cream cheese and finish with a grating of lemon zest.

To create your parcels, egg wash the remaining border of your pastry and fold the longest sides up and over your filling stack. Brush the remaining ‘border’ with additional egg wash and fold up and over to seal your parcel completely.

Turn it upside down (so the topside is smooth) and sit it on a lined baking tray. Lightly score your pastry top with a criss-cross design and finish with an egg wash. Pop into the fridge for a few hours (even overnight) to firm up. It’s a great dish to make in advance!

Bake in an oven at 200°C/400°F/gas 6 for 40-45 minutes until golden. Slice and serve!

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