Indbagt Laks i Butterdej

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large baking sheet
• •Rolling pin
• •Probe thermometer
• •Sharp serrated knife
• •Clean tea towel for wringing spinach
• •Pastry brush

Instructions

1. 1

   Season the salmon

   Take the salmon fillet out of the fridge thirty minutes before you begin. Cold fish inside hot pastry is a problem: the outside overcooks before the centre catches up. Season the fillet on both sides with fine sea salt and white pepper, then set it aside on a clean board. White pepper because it disappears into the fish. Black pepper would leave gritty specks against the pale flesh.

   Run your fingers along the fillet against the grain. If you feel pin bones, pull them out with tweezers. Every one you leave in is a small disappointment at the table.
2. 2

   Wilt and dry the spinach

   Melt the butter in a wide pan over a medium heat. Add the minced shallots and cook gently for two minutes until they soften and turn translucent. Add the spinach in handfuls, letting each batch wilt before adding the next. This takes only a minute or two. The spinach will collapse from a mountain into almost nothing. Season lightly with salt. Tip the wilted spinach into a clean tea towel, gather the corners, and squeeze out every drop of liquid you can. This step is not optional. Wet spinach is the single most common reason the pastry goes soggy, and soggy butterdej is not butterdej at all. Spread the squeezed spinach on a plate and let it cool completely.

   Don't be gentle with the wringing. Twist the towel until no more green water comes out. You'll be surprised how much liquid spinach holds.
3. 3

   Make the dill cream

   In a bowl, mix the cream cheese with the chopped dill, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Season with salt and a grind of white pepper. Taste it. It should be bright and herbaceous, with enough lemon to cut through the richness of the cream cheese without tasting sour. This layer does double duty: it carries the dill flavor into every bite, and it acts as a moisture barrier between the fish and the pastry. The fat in the cream cheese seals the dough from the inside.

4. 4

   Roll out the pastry

   Dust your counter lightly with flour and roll the cold puff pastry into a rectangle large enough to wrap the salmon generously, roughly 40cm by 35cm. The pastry should be about 3mm thick. Keep it even. Thick spots bake slowly and stay pale. Thin spots burn. If the pastry warms up and starts to feel soft and sticky, slide it onto a baking sheet and chill it for ten minutes. Cold pastry is cooperative pastry. Warm pastry fights you.

   If you're using shop-bought all-butter butterdej in a block, roll it from the centre outward in all directions, rotating a quarter turn after every few strokes. This keeps the thickness even and the shape honest.
5. 5

   Assemble the parcel

   Spread the dill cream in an even layer down the centre of the pastry, in roughly the shape and size of the salmon fillet. Lay the cooled spinach over the cream in an even layer. Now place the salmon on top of the spinach, presentation side down. Presentation side down because when you flip the finished parcel onto the baking sheet, the smooth top of the salmon will be on top and the seam will be hidden underneath. Fold the long sides of the pastry up and over the salmon, overlapping them by at least 3cm. Press the seam firmly to seal. Fold the short ends in like wrapping a parcel, trimming any excess pastry that would create thick, doughy corners. Press all seams firmly closed.

   Dab a little beaten egg along the pastry edges before you seal them. Egg is the glue that holds butterdej shut. Without it, the seams can open in the oven and the juices run out.
6. 6

   Chill the parcel

   Carefully flip the parcel seam-side down onto a baking sheet lined with parchment. The smooth side faces up now. Place the whole tray in the fridge for at least twenty minutes, and up to two hours if you're working ahead. This rest is essential. It re-firms the butter layers in the pastry that your warm hands softened during assembly. Those layers are what create the flake. Skip this step and the pastry bakes flat and dense instead of shattering into golden leaves.

7. 7

   Glaze and score

   Heat the oven to 210C. Take the chilled parcel from the fridge and brush the entire surface with the beaten egg, using smooth, even strokes. Don't let the egg pool in the creases or it will glue the layers shut and stop them from rising. With a sharp knife, score three or four diagonal slashes across the top, cutting just through the surface of the pastry but no deeper. These cuts let steam escape. Without them, the steam stays trapped and the pastry goes damp from the inside.

   A second coat of egg wash, applied after the first has dried for two minutes, gives an even deeper golden colour. It's not necessary, but it's the kind of detail that makes the dish look the way it should when you bring it to the table.
8. 8

   Bake until golden

   Bake in the centre of the oven for 30 to 35 minutes. The pastry should be a deep, confident gold all over, not pale, not patchy. If the top colours faster than the sides, tent it loosely with a sheet of foil for the last ten minutes. The salmon inside is done when the centre of the parcel reads 52C on a probe thermometer inserted through one of the score marks. At that temperature the fish is just set, still silky, still faintly translucent in the very middle. It will carry over a few degrees as it rests. Overcooked salmon is dry and chalky, and no amount of good pastry can save it.

9. 9

   Rest and serve

   Let the parcel rest on its tray for ten full minutes before you slice. This is not patience for its own sake. The juices inside the salmon are in motion from the heat. Resting lets them settle back into the flesh instead of flooding the cutting board the moment the knife goes through. Use a sharp serrated knife and cut into thick slices, about 3cm wide. Each slice should show the layers cleanly: golden pastry, green spinach, the dill cream, and the coral centre of the laks. Serve with nye kartofler tossed in butter and dill, and a simple green salad. Tak for mad.

Chef Tips

• •Use all-butter puff pastry. Read the label. Many brands use margarine or vegetable fat, and the difference is real. Butter gives you the flavour and the shatter. Margarine gives you a greasy, flat crust that tastes like nothing in particular.
• •Buy a centre-cut piece of salmon fillet, evenly thick from end to end. If the fillet tapers at the tail, fold the thin end under itself so the whole piece is roughly the same thickness. Uneven fish means the thin parts overcook while the thick part is still raw.
• •A probe thermometer is your best friend here. You cannot see through butterdej, and guessing the doneness of the fish inside is exactly that, a guess. 52C in the centre, carried over to 55C during the rest. That is the window.
• •If you want to make this even more celebratory, serve it with a warm sennepssauce on the side. Stir the mustard in after the sauce comes off the heat, not before. Mustard cooked at high heat turns bitter and loses its bite. Off the heat, it stays bright and alive.
• •This is a beautiful dish to bring to the table whole on a long board or platter, then slice in front of your guests. The reveal of the cross-section is half the pleasure. Don't hide it in the kitchen.

Advance Preparation

• •The dill cream can be made the morning of and kept covered in the fridge. The flavour improves as the dill steeps into the cream cheese.
• •The spinach can be wilted and wrung dry up to a day ahead. Store it pressed flat in a sealed container in the fridge.
• •The full parcel can be assembled, wrapped, and chilled up to four hours before baking. In fact, a longer chill after assembly only helps the pastry. Take it straight from the fridge to a hot oven.
• •Do not bake and then reheat. The pastry loses its flake entirely. This is a dish that goes from oven to table with only the resting time between.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 235g)