Fish En Papillote

Audrey Farson Jackson just sent us in this great little family dinner or dinner party idea.  She found a fabulous way to make her normal kitchen staples look new; in a very yummy way. Way to do Audrey!

I had just received some fresh local fish and the Space girl veggie box arrived within a day of one another, so I had all kind of veggies to play with. I decided it was finally time to try fish en papillote, or fish in parchment paper. You create a packet of fish and veggies, wrap it up, shove it in the oven, then poof: steamed fish and veggies that creates its own sauce. It was awesome and almost no work.

I used the radishes, fennel, carrots, and celery from SpaceGirl Organics along with lemons, olive oil, and white wine. Judging by the many, many recipes for this method on the internet I think you can use any vegetable you like that is suitable for steaming (I think that is almost all of them).  Note on ingredients and recipe, I listed what I used for one packet for ease of reading and building instructions. One packet will feed one person. Multiply this for however many people you would like to feed.

Ingredients (serves 1):

¼-1/2 lb fish (Any whitish fish will do, snook, redfish, tilapia, mahi, ect)

1-2 radishes sliced thin

½ -1/3 carrots sliced into thin coins

¼ cup Fennel, white parts only, sliced thin

¼ cup celery, sliced thin (are you noticing a trend?)

Two lemon rounds, ¼ -1/2 inch

1 Tbsp white wine

1-2 tablespoons olive oil

Salt and Pepper

Instructions:

Heat oven to 375

Cut a large piece of parchment paper, If it is your first time the larger piece will make folding easier. About 12 inches long and whatever you roll is wide. Stack all vegetables in the middle of the parchment paper, season with salt, pepper, olive oil, and wine. Next season fish with salt and pepper then place on top of veggies and finish with a little bit more olive oil. Finally place lemon rounds on top of fish sprinkle with just a touch more salt a pepper to season the lemons. Fold parchment in half, whichever way the veggies and fish are longer along the same axis. Holding the two edges together make ¼ folds in parchment paper down to fish sealing the top of fish. Next in a similar fashion seal the two outside edges of the paper to create a packet that looks a bit like an envelope. This website had good pictureshttp://familyspice.com/recipes/recipe/?recipe_id=165. I didn’t have enough hands to fold and take photos. Once all packets are assembled and folded place on a baking sheet and in the oven for 15-20 minutes depending on how thick your fish is. With all the liquid it is hard to overcook the fish so some of this also depends on your desired doneness. My fish was a little over an inch thick and I used the full 20 minutes. Something like Tilapia I would use less. This recipe has a great presentation when you serve the packet immediately and still sealed. Each person gets to open their own little packet of fish and enjoy the waft of steam that comes when you open it. It was a real hit at my house.  Enjoy!