STEEMIT CULINARY CHALLENGE #13 "Black Venus Trout Pasty" - Original Recipe

When you ask an Englishwoman to create a fish dish, of course she immediately thinks "Fish 'n' Chips"!  But I already did that one a while ago, and let's be honest, it's not exactly difficult to chip a few spuds or mush the peas.  But I did want my entry to represent something English and so my second thought was a pasty.  

Traditionally, pasties containing meat are the most popular variety, but fish or plain veg are available for vegetarians in most pasty bakeries.  I often make myself a veggie version of Cornish pasties, so I thought why not try making a fish pasty for the challenge, and if I liked it that would be another welcome addition to my meal choices here at home.  But as you know I like to put a twist on things to make it interesting, so I decided to grind up some of my newly-discovered (organic) black Venus rice into a flour so I could give my fish-shaped fish pasty a silvery colour, and coat the outside with golden linseed scales :-)  Black rice is the most nutritious of all rices, and after sampling it and loving it with curry last week I'm now keen to incorporate it into my diet (and I also like to experiment!)  I had just bought some fresh trout fillets from the local market, which have a appearance and flakiness similar to salmon, yet with a stronger 'fishier' taste.  The perfect partner to the strong-flavoured red onions I buy, along with something green (I chose sweetheart cabbage), sauteed with a handful of herbs and spices, and encased in this subtle nutty-tasting crust with a more-ish soft-but-seedy bite.  Really good!!!   And naturally I chipped those spuds too, as fish without chips is just wrong!

What you will need:

1 fresh trout fillet

1/2 red onion

3 cloves garlic

100g sweetheart cabbage

Drizzle honey

1 tsp thyme

2 tsp parsley

1 tsp coriander

1 tsp black pepper

100g black venus rice

100g fine wholewheat flour

50g butter

4 tblsp water

Golden linseed and beaten egg to finish

Method:

Put the trout into an oven-proof dish and add a little water to prevent it drying out.  Pop into a preheated oven at 190 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes.  It will be nicely cooked but not over-done.

Peel and dice the onion, finely dice the garlic, and slice the cabbage from the top so that you get nice swirls (similar to tagliatelle pasta in appearance).

In a frying pan on moderate heat, saute the cabbage in a teaspoon of coconut oil for a few minutes, then add the onion and garlic.  Drizzle with a little honey.  Once the veg has softened remove from heat.

Put the veg into bowl, and flake the salmon into it.  Add the thyme, parsley, coriander and black pepper, and gently toss with a wooden spoon.

To make the pastry you will need to grind the black rice into flour.  If you have a flour mill then of course use that, but since I don't I use the grinder attachment on my blender.  Grind on full power until the rice is very fine just like any other kind of flour.

In a large bowl mix together the black rice flour and wholewheat flour.

Cut the butter into small pieces and rub into the flour using your fingertips, until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Add the water and mix with your hand to form a firm dough.

Roll out on a lightly floured surface to about the size of a dinner plate.

Carefully transfer the pastry onto a baking tray (I like to use silicone so it doesn't stick), but flip the pastry so the floured side is up.  This way the un-floury side will be on the outside and will look more presentable.  

Spoon the mixture into the middle of the pastry.  Using a pastry brush, wet along all the edges and fold the pastry over the filling.  Now you can pretend it's modelling clay and carefully shape the pastry into a fish shape.  If any cracks form simply use a little water to smooth it over.

Brush the pastry with beaten egg.  This will add 'hold' to the pastry, and also help the linseed to stick.

Sprinkle the linseed onto it, then pop into a preheated oven at 190 degrees Celsius for 30-40 minutes until firm to the touch.

In the UK and Ireland, fish is often accompanied by chips, no matter what the fish dish is.  So I decided to make some chips in the shape of waves.  Simply peel the spuds, cut slices lengthways, then cut each slice in an arch shape.  Put into a roasting tray along with a teaspoon of coconut oil (great for roasting veg) and roast in the oven for about 30 minutes.

Serve and enjoy!

As usual, much appreciation to @englishtchrivy for hosting this challenge and giving us all a good reason to get creative! 
 

Many thanks also to this week's judge @ats-david, and to the sponsors @smooth, @sirwinchester and @knozaki2015, and to everyone else involved in this challenge. 
 

For more healthy vegetarian, sugar-free, additive-free recipes for meals and snacks, please follow me!  Thank you!

Logo kindly created for me by @papa-pepper