May 13, 2008

Cooked fish en papillote last night for the first time, and wow. Was it fabulous–and easy, so I thought I'd share the recipe.

Cooking fish en papillote, or in parchment paper, is super easy and it keeps the fish moist. All of the steam cooks the fish and everything melds together. Yum, I say! Yum!

So here's what I did:

For each piece of tilapia, I cut a piece of parchment paper about the size of two 8.5×11 pieces of paper, and folded it in half.

Then I sprinkled a little bit of olive oil on one half of the sheet, right next to the crease.

Next, I put a small bunch of fresh spinach down, then the tilapia filet on top.

I sprinkled the tilapia with a bit of Teriyaki sauce–or you could use Italian dressing, or any other marinade that strikes your fancy, butter and lemon juice, whatever. Then, a bit of chopped garlic, sesame seeds, and, if you have it, grated ginger. (Or not.) Salt and pepper, maybe.

This next part was what I thought would be the hardest, but it really is easy. Fold the paper in half over the fish, and then fold each side in in narrow folds, creasing it really well and flat. So then you'll have all three sides enclosed, and an open pocket sort of thing.

Fold the top part closed, and it will be like an envelope. Believe it or not, if you make the creases firm, it won't come undone until you finish cooking it. (Makes it very easy to transport the pockets to a baking sheet).

Cook at 400 for about ten or thirteen minutes. Be careful when you tear the parchment to release the fish–it may be a bit steamy.

But for a family of five, four of us devoured the fish, and the only one who didn't was my son who doesn't like fish anyway.

So try it!

And if you have any suggestions for fish recipes, share. I'm looking for other options.