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Fish en Papillote

Description

In "The Kitchen Counter Cooking School" by Kathleen Flinn, she discusses a technique known as "en papillote," or cooking fish in paper. This method involves wrapping the fish in parchment paper or aluminum foil and baking it.

Flinn emphasizes that cooking fish in paper helps seal the flavors and juices, resulting in a moist and tender final dish. The paper creates a steamy environment inside the packet, allowing the fish to cook gently and evenly. It also helps infuse the fish with added herbs, seasonings, or aromatics, enhancing the overall taste. The recipe is written in the book, but also on her website

Cooking en papillote (French for “parchment”) is a wildly overlooked cooking method in America. It’s an easy method for a quick weeknight dinner that’s also elegant enough for guests. The smell that escapes when the package is reason enough to try it.

Ingredients

As written on Flinn's website

  • 2 (4 oz.) pieces of fish or thinly sliced chicken breast
  • 4 teaspoons olive oil
  • Few sprigs of fresh herbs (dill, basil, thyme, rosemary) or a ½ teaspoon dried
  • 1/4 cup of white wine (or water)
  • Few thin lemon slices
  • About ½ cup of vegetable for flavor and garnish: shallots, onion, garlic, zucchini, carrot, broccoli, fennel, etc., each finely chopped or sliced

As prepared, and loved, by Deb

  • 1 halibut filet (mine was ~3 lbs), preferably purchased from a fish market. This made four large packets.
  • 2 cobs of corn
  • green onions
  • red potatoes
  • a small bunch of asparagus
  • olive oil
  • balsamic vinegar (I used a citrus-flavored one)
  • fresh thyme
  • lemon

Directions

As written on Flinn's website

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit or 200 Celsius. Fold each sheet in half. Drizzle half the olive oil (two teaspoons per sheet) and add generous pinches of coarse salt and pepper on one half of each paper heart. Add the fish and turn it over to coat. Place herbs, lemon, and vegetables on top of the fish and drizzle some wine over each. Crimp the edges of the parchment or foil and shut carefully to avoid allowing any liquid or steam to escape from the package during cooking. Place the packages on a baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes. Allow to sit at least one minute, and then open carefully.

From Deb

I had to cook it a bit longer; I used thick halibut. I also cooked it in foil. I parboiled the potatoes beforehand (but I should have done this longer and salted the water more). I also think I will get the fish market to portion the filet to see how it is done.
I took the leftover fish and vegetables and made a chowder based on the New England Clam Chowder | Cook's Illustrated Recipe. It was incredible.

Notes

As written on Flinn's website

This works well for salmon and mild-flavored white fish such as snapper, cod, etc. To ensure thorough cooking, fish fillets or chicken breast slices should be less than a half-inch thick.

This works best in parchment paper, but you can also use aluminum foil. Choose ingredients to get a flavor you like. For instance, to get an Asian flavor, use sesame instead of olive oil, add lime, cilantro, and ginger to the package, and possibly finely sliced water chestnuts.

You’ll need 2 (10 x 12) inch pieces of parchment. I prefer to use the unbleached variety on the roll. You can use foil but don’t use too much vinegar or wine as it may react with aluminum.

Source

Deb Mundorff, from: