Smoky eel puff pastries with pork belly, Emmental and apple

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This impressive eel recipe by Robert Thompson makes smoky eel pastries that are packed full of fish flavour and which can be served any time of the day. You can buy trimmed smoked eel from your local fishmonger, but if you do buy a whole eel, allow 100g extra for skinning and trimming.

First published in 2015

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Smoked eel puff pastries

Pork belly

Equipment

  • Silicone baking mat

Method

1
Heat the oven to 180°C/Gas mark 4. Put the pork belly in a roasting tin into which it fits snugly and cover with the vegetable stock, herbs, garlic, celery and carrots. Cover and braise in the oven for 3 hours. When cooked, lift out and drain
2
Place the pork belly on a flat metal tray and put another metal tray on top. Weigh the top tray down with tins or weights
3
Let the meat cool at room temperature and then chill in the fridge until completely cold. Peel off the skin and cut off the excess fat, then slice up what is left. Keep the slices cold until ready to use
4
Roll out the puff pastry into a large rectangle, approximately 5mm thick
  • 500g of puff pastry
5
Brush the entire surface of the puff pastry with beaten egg yolk and season lightly with Maldon salt and black pepper
6
Slice the trimmed smoked eel very thinly and lay over the pastry leaving a 5cm gap around the edge. This is so you can join the edges neatly when rolling the pastry
7
Top with a layer of sliced apple, then the Emmental and finally the pork belly. Season again with Maldon salt and pepper
8
Roll the pastry up, away from you, like a Swiss roll. Keep the roll nice and tight. Chill until firm
9
Heat the oven to 190°C/Gas mark 5. Slice the roll into 5cm thick rounds. Place each round, cut side up, on a silicone mat
10
Brush lightly with the egg yolk, add a little salt to each pastry and bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden and risen
11
Remove from the oven and serve warm
First published in 2015

Robert Thompson's cooking is full of character and classical skill.

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