Indbagt Fisk i Butterdej med Rejesauce

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Food processor
• •Rolling pin
• •Baking sheet lined with parchment
• •Pastry brush
• •Sharp knife
• •Medium saucepan for the rejesauce

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the fiskefars

   Put the 250g of cold fish pieces into a food processor. The fish must be cold, straight from the fridge, because warmth breaks the protein bonds that hold the fiskefars together and you end up with something grainy instead of smooth. Pulse until the fish is finely ground, then add the egg white and process for ten seconds. With the motor running, pour in the cold cream in a thin, steady stream. Stop as soon as it's incorporated. Scrape the mixture into a bowl and fold in the chopped dill, chives, salt, and white pepper. Cover and refrigerate until you need it. Cold fiskefars spreads more easily and holds its shape inside the pastry.

   The fiskefars should be smooth and hold its shape on a spoon. If it feels loose or broken, refrigerate it for fifteen minutes. The cold firms the butterfat in the cream and brings the mixture back together.
2. 2

   Prepare the fish

   Pat the two cod fillets completely dry with kitchen paper. Season both sides lightly with fine sea salt and white pepper. Moisture is the enemy here. Any water left on the surface of the fish will turn to steam inside the pastry and make it soggy from the inside out. Dry fish, crisp pastry. It's that direct.

3. 3

   Roll out and assemble

   Lightly flour your work surface and roll the puff pastry into a rectangle roughly 35cm by 30cm, about 3mm thick. If you're using pre-rolled sheets, overlap two pieces and press the seam firmly so it won't separate in the oven. The pastry needs to be large enough to wrap around the fish with a generous border on all sides. Spread half the cold fiskefars down the center of the pastry in an even layer about the same width and length as the fish. This is your moisture barrier. The fiskefars insulates the pastry from the fish's juices and keeps everything crisp while adding a second layer of fish flavor. Lay the first cod fillet on top of the fiskefars. Place the second fillet on top of the first, tail to head, so the parcel is even in thickness from end to end. Spread the remaining fiskefars over the top and sides of the fish, covering it as completely as you can.

   Arranging the fillets tail to head is how you get an even parcel. The thick end of one fillet covers the thin end of the other, and the result bakes uniformly instead of drying out at the edges.
4. 4

   Seal and glaze

   Brush the exposed pastry edges with beaten egg. Fold the long sides of the pastry up and over the fish, pressing the seam firmly to seal. Fold the short ends under like wrapping a gift, tucking them neatly beneath the parcel. Carefully turn the whole thing over, seam-side down, onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. The weight of the parcel holds the seams shut. Brush the entire surface generously with egg wash. Use a sharp knife to score the top with five or six shallow diagonal lines, cutting only through the first layer of pastry. The scores let steam escape during baking. Without them, the pastry balloons and cracks in places you don't choose.

5. 5

   Bake the parcel

   Heat the oven to 210°C. Bake the parcel for 28 to 32 minutes until the pastry is a deep, even gold all over. If the top colors too quickly, lay a sheet of foil loosely over it for the last ten minutes. When it comes out, let the parcel rest on the baking sheet for a full ten minutes. This is not optional. The resting time lets the fish finish cooking gently in its own heat and lets the juices settle back into the flesh. Cut too soon and everything runs out onto the board.

   The pastry should be deep gold, not pale gold. Pale pastry is underbaked pastry, and underbaked puff pastry tastes of raw flour and disappointment. Trust the color. When it looks almost too dark, it's right.
6. 6

   Make the rejesauce

   While the parcel bakes, make the sauce. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over a low heat. Add the flour and stir it into the butter with a wooden spoon. Cook for one minute, stirring constantly. The roux needs to cook long enough to lose the raw flour taste but not so long that it takes on color. You want a pale, sandy paste. Pour in the white wine and stir until the mixture thickens and the sharp alcohol smell softens, about one minute. Add the fish stock gradually, stirring the whole time to keep the sauce smooth. Bring to a gentle simmer and let it cook for five minutes until it has the consistency of thin cream. Add the heavy cream and bring back to a simmer. Season with salt and white pepper. Now take the pan off the heat. Fold in the shrimp, the lemon juice, and the chopped dill. The shrimp go in off the heat because they're already cooked. More heat makes them tight and rubbery, and you lose the soft sweetness that makes a rejesauce worth making. You want them just warmed through, pink and tender in the cream.

   Taste the sauce before adding salt. If your fish stock was seasoned, the sauce may need very little. The lemon juice should be a brightness you feel but can't quite name, not an obvious citrus note. Add it a few drops at a time.
7. 7

   Slice and serve

   Use a sharp knife to cut the rested parcel into thick slices, about 3cm wide. Cut with a confident single motion. Sawing back and forth crushes the pastry layers you spent all that time building. Lay the slices on warm plates so the cross-section faces up: golden pastry, pale fiskefars, white flaky cod at the center. Spoon the rejesauce alongside the fish, never over the pastry. Pour it on top and the crisp surface you worked for will be gone in minutes. Serve with nye kartofler, new potatoes, still warm and glistening with a little butter, and a sprig of fresh dill on the plate. Tak for mad.

Chef Tips

• •Keep the fish for the fiskefars as cold as possible. If your kitchen is warm, put the food processor bowl in the freezer for ten minutes before you start. Cold is what makes the difference between a smooth, light fiskefars and one that separates and turns grainy.
• •Use all-butter puff pastry, real butterdej, not the kind made with margarine or vegetable fat. You'll taste the difference in every layer. Good store-bought all-butter puff pastry is an honest shortcut here. This is the one time the shortcut loses nothing.
• •The best rejesauce comes from håndpillede rejer, the tiny hand-peeled Danish shrimp that taste of the sea. If you can't find them, use the smallest cold-water shrimp available. Never warm-water prawns. The flavor is completely different, and the texture matters too. You want shrimp that melt into the cream, not ones that bounce.
• •Buy the torsk from a fishmonger you trust. It should smell of the sea, not of fish. Fresh cod has firm, translucent flesh that springs back when you press it. If the flesh is chalky white and soft, it's past its best. Good fish is the foundation. Everything else is built on top of it.
• •A cold glass of dry white wine alongside, something unoaked and crisp, is the natural companion. The wine you use in the sauce works well in the glass too.

Advance Preparation

• •The fiskefars can be made up to a day ahead and kept tightly covered in the fridge. The flavor actually improves overnight as the dill and chives infuse the cream.
• •The parcel can be fully assembled up to four hours before baking. Keep it on the baking sheet in the fridge, covered loosely with cling film. Add five minutes to the baking time if it goes into the oven cold.
• •The rejesauce should be made fresh. You can prepare the roux and add the stock and cream ahead of time, but fold in the shrimp, lemon, and dill only after you take the pan off the heat, just before serving.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 400g)