Salmon, spinach and rice en croute

500g puff pastry
100g long-grain rice
2 salmon fillets, skinless (approx 280g)
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp American mustard
80g cream cheese
100g washed spinach
1 egg, beaten
Plain flour, for rolling
4 black olive slices

Method

• Preheat oven to 220°C and line a large baking tray.
• Cook the rice in accordance with packet instructions.
• In a food processor pulse the spinach until finely chopped. Add the cream cheese, lemon juice and mustard and pulse until combined. Season well.
• Cool the cooked rice in a mixing bowl, then mix in the creamed spinach.
• Cut the puff pastry block in half and roll out on a floured surface.
• Cut out 2 ovals using as a template an oval plate large enough to cover one salmon fillet plus half the rice. Then cut out a fish tail.
• Re-roll the pastry off-cuts out on a floured surface, then cut with a lattice cutter to create scales.
• Brush one oval with egg, place the lattice over the top, and trim the edges. When the egg has dried, sprinkle with flour and roll out so the oval is slightly bigger — this will be the top half.
• Lay one of the ovals on the parchment paper, prick several times with a fork, add the tail to one end.
• Place half the rice mixture on the base leaving a 1 inch border around the edge. Top with the salmon and season.
• Brush the edges with egg, then cover with the lattice-covered oval, pressing the edges down with a fork.
• Make small slits down the tail, and make the eyes of the fish using left-over pastry and 2 olives slices.
• Repeat with the second half of pastry, the second fillet and the remaining rice.
• Brush each pastry fish with the beaten egg, and bake for approximately 20 minutes until the pastry is golden.

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