New Lucy and coulibiac recipe

Here's LUCY!!! Fresh from her grooming session. Jenny very kindly came to hand strip her coat and to initiate me into the mysteries of wiry coat hand stripping.

: AAh a person with or without camera: must ''present tummy!!!''

''What's going on?'' Put the camera away and rub my tummy!!!

Just look at that silky gleaming undercoat! She's oh so beautiful and FABULOUSLY soft and silky but not wirehaired now, not until the topcoat grows back. Pippa didn't want to be left out.

A mother/daughter moment. They often clean each others ears lying side by side on the best sofa. Why is it theyhave the better, more comfortable sofa?.....Our fault of course; we gave it to them!

Yummy! Treat time for me: I have discovered this and it's DELICIOUS!At last a chocolate spread- FAIRTRADE and Organic-which nut allergy sufferers can EAT! YUMMY.

The Christmas boxes left the school today, there was a large mountain of them which was a joy to see. Here go the hat/scarf and little Brian. Underneath are all those pencils,soap,paper etc.

Ta dah! MY salmon coulibiac.

The family gave it ten out of ten and it's easy but a bit time consuming: want to give it a try?

Serves 4-6

418 g can of wild pacific salmon

1 large leek

1 large onion

100g butter

150g cooked rice

6 oz button mushrooms

Fresh or dried Dill

Lime juice

2 large eggs

seasonings, salt and pepper

375 g pack of chilled puff pastry

extra flour for dusting

1 beaten egg in a mug/ bowl

a greased baking tray: 30x40 cm

Preheat oven to 180 Centigrade/350 F

You can use fresh salmon, but I wasn't that organised and I had this in my store cupboard.

Gently sautee the onion- chopped finely- with the leek( washed and sliced) in a knob of butter.

When nicely sweated and cooked, remove to a bowl and fry the sliced mushrooms.

When the mushrooms are nicely browned, remove to a plate and add a but more butter to gently fry the cooked rice.

After this scramble the 2 eggs in butter .

Now roll out the pastry as flat and large as it will go, but not too thin.

About 55 cm by 40 cm.

Now the fun starts and you layer in whatever order you fancy!

I started with the salmon, combined with the buttery rice and plenty of seasoning, dill and lime juice to taste.

A nice layer in the middle of your rectangle of pastry.

Then the leeks and the onions.

Then the mushrooms and the scrambled eggs.

Add seasonings as to your own taste to each layer.

Use a lattice cutter on the 2 sides of pastry , where there is no food or cut thin rectangles out with a sharp knife. ( see photo above)

From the pastry thus created shape small fish to decorate- or do dolphins and whales which my kids joined in with- have FUN!

Now fold over the 2 side flaps of pastry and using the beaten egg as ''glue'' stick the lacy flaps down over the layered food in the centre.

Crimp the 2 ends with a fork to seal ( top and bottom ends)

Brush all pastry with the beaten egg and decorate with your created pastry shapes.

Gently lift onto a well- greased baking tray and bake for 20- 25 minutes until golden brown.

Remove from oven and leave to rest for 5-8 minutes before cutting into slices.

Serve with green beans or a crisp green salad and some Hollandaise sauce if you so wish.

We had it with sweetcorn,julienne steamed carrots and baby brussels sprouts- also steamed lightly.... And the kids ate ALL of it, including ALL vegetables. It was a very colourful plate with nicely contrasting shapes.

ENJOY!

Hope to see you again soon, there's Lucy's antics to come and some more crochet.