Seafood Baked in Puff Pastry
This recipe consists of whole sides of fish and prawns cooked in a large fish shaped pastry case, surprising easy yet looks extremely difficult and will impress your guests no end.
Preparation time: 30 minutes Quantity: Serves 6 - 8 Cooking time: 30 - 40 minutes
Ingredients
Pastry -
2 x tray size rolled out pieces of puff pastry (approx. –25/30 cm x 15/20 cm)
Seafood and Filling -
2 sides of / or large pieces of different fish (approx. 1-1/2 lb./750g each) – long lengths
1 tub cream cheese or 1/4 pint béchamel
2 leeks - trimmed and halved length ways
100g / 4 oz-cooked prawns
Egg Wash -
1 small egg
touch milk
pinch salt
Decoration -
1 tablespoon sesame or poppy seeds
Method
- If you use two different colour fish then it gives a good effect when cut – try salmon or smoked haddock mixed with a white fish like cod or haddock. (Filleted and skinned)
- Steam or boil the leek till tender - drain and cool
Putting together -
- Lay the first sheet on a greased tray
- Place the first piece of fish in the middle
- Spoon over 1/2 tub cream cheese or béchamel
- Top with the prawns
- Season well
- Followed by the leeks, in long strips along the fish
- Top with the last piece of fish
- And spread on the remaining cream cheese season well again
- Egg wash the sides
- Top with the last piece of puff pastry
- Moulding into a fish shape (simply by cutting of the overlapping pastry and shaping like the fish you used to draw as a child)
- Cut in the scales and eye shapes, by scoring lightly with a knife
- Egg wash
- Dust with sesame or maw/poppy seeds
- Bake in a preheated oven gas 6 / 210*c / 430*f for 40 / 50 minutes
- Check the oven 1/2 way and turn down if going too brown too quickly