Salmon en Croute – cheats version

I made the mistake of listening to my sister and bought myself an airfryer. Instead of getting a cheap one I went and bought an all bells and whistles Ninja that fries, bakes, steams and pressure cooks it also loads from the top, inconvenient. It came with a book of instructions more like a hefty tome and I even went and bought a chefs steel table on wheels to accommodate the damn thing. I bought it two years ago, it may be three and I have never used it simply because it feels like a faff. Darren says it is the most expensive kitchen ornament I have ever acquired and believe me there have been a few am a sucker for a gadget. I do have intentions to get my head round it at some point so there it sits gathering dust. Anyway I digress.

You would think given the recent weather being radioactive that I might have got my head round something that cooks in a trice and requires little or no governance but hell no. On with the oven and in my stuff goes. Which leads me neatly on to one of my go to in a hot spell dinners. Salmon on Croute. Sounds fancy, my version looks more like a Greggs sausage roll, aesthetics were not great with this one as Darren bought the round puff pastry instead of the rectangular, it comes ready rolled here, and yes I am not making my own rough puff aside from the fact butter reaches melting point out of the fridge within two minutes why would I? So I had to get creative with the long fillets I had pulled out of the freezer hence the elongated sausage shape. Served very simply with green beans and salad potatoes it looks boring as but it was lush. I had salted butter on the beans and potatoes as we were eating and the salmon had been seasoned with butter lemon salt and pepper before being wrapped in its coat of flaky. In the oven for 20 mins until the pastry is golden and on to the plate. Definitely not instagram worthy but if you want a tasty dinner that pretty much cooks itself then give it a go. If you want pretty pictures melt your butter to glaze your veg, maybe have veg thats not come out of a jar or tin and score and sweep a bit of milk or beaten egg over the pastry before baking.

We ate on our new side terrace which is my new favourite place with our big fat dining chairs and wicker lamp shades, then after we can chill with a cuppa on the sofas and look out over the fields that the house is set in.