Steamed Fish and Veggies

Ok so you've probably heard of cooking food En papillote  which is the fancy French way of saying in parchment paper. Yeah, well, I use parchment paper all the time as a liner for my veggies but I don't often wrap food in it. However, I saw a recipe on  my Splendid Table (NPR) site and I thought what the hell? So it's fish and veggies wrapped in parchment paper and baked and I have to say it was darn good! The recipe called for red snapper but my fish person didn't have it so I used Walleye (which according to my non-fishing eating father) is the best fish known to man. I have to say the dish turned out really nice but it is a subtle dish and as you all know, I like food with fairly strong flavors. I think it was actually very good--sort of almost like something you would get a fancy shmancy restaurant :-)

Fish and Veggies in Parchment

1 lb red snapper walleye, trout (cut in half)
1 small zucchini, sliced thinly
1 small yellow squash, sliced thinly
1 medium tomato chopped
olive oil
salt and pepper
white wine springs of fresh thyme
parchment paper
fresh basil

Tear big pieces of parchment. Divide squash between the two papers. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. top with fish fillet, drizzle with white wine, salt and pepper and tomatoes and fresh thyme. Fold the fish up in a nice little package and place on baking sheet. Bake for 10-20 minutes depending on the thickness of your fish. Open the packages carefully as they will be hot. Transfer to plate, pouring juice over all and adding chopped fresh basil.

This dish is nice served over couscous or rice since it generates nice juice that you can pour over.

I also served with peas that I cooked with chopped red pepper and chopped fresh mint--plus about a T of butter.