Ingredients
2 x 500-600g/1lb2oz-1lb5oz skinless fillets of salmon or sea trout
2 walnut-sized pieces of preserved ginger in syrup
1 tbsp dried currants
½ tsp grated lemon zest
1 sherry glass red wine
pinch of cinnamon
50g/2oz butter, softened
salt, freshly ground black pepper
225g/8oz shortcrust pastry
1 egg, beaten

For the Sauce:
100g/3½oz butter
1 large egg yolk
1 tbsp syrup from the preserved ginger
squeeze of fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper

Method
Check the fish for any stray bones, wipe dry and set aside. Rinse the ginger of any syrup and chop it into very small dice. Put in a small saucepan with the red wine, currants, lemon zest and cinnamon. Bring to the boil, allow to bubble for just a minute, then remove from the heat and leave to infuse and cool for half an hour. Strain off the wine (you will need some of it later but the rest you can drink, effectively mulled, as chef's perk).

Take one of the two fillets (the larger if there is a difference), season well with salt and black pepper and spread with half of the softened butter. Spoon over the mixture of ginger, lemon zest and currents. Place the second fillet on top to make a sandwich, and spread the remaining butter on the top of it. Season well with salt and black pepper and finally trickle over a little of the remaining wine.

Roll out the pastry so that it is long enough and wide enough to completely wrap up the fish. There are several ways to make your fish parcel, and artistic types may want to trim the fish to a fish shape, cut the pastry to match (with a little tail) and decorate their fish-shaped parcel making fins, eyes etc with spare scraps of pastry. The important thing is that the pastry should be well-sealed. The easiest method is to place the fish on the middle of the pastry, fold both sides into the middle and seal the edges by brushing with water and crimping with a finger, like a giant cornish pasty.

40 minutes before you plan to serve the fish, brush the pastry with the beaten egg and place the parcel in a hot oven (220C/425F/Gas7) for 15 minutes. Then turn down the oven to 150C/300F/Gas2 for another 20 minutes or until you are ready to eat the fish (preferably not more than half an hour).

Make the sauce at the last possible moment: gently melt the butter over a low heat then drizzle into the egg yolk, whisking vigorously, as if making a mayonnaise. Then whisk in the ginger syrup, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. Serve 2cm/1in thick slices of the pastry clad salmon, half masked with the sauce, with more sauce spilling over in a pool on the plate.