Fish en Papillote

This could seriously be one of the fastest dinners to pull together. It doesn’t hurt either that it is healthy and delicious. The variations are endless, don’t hesitate to switch it up a bit and use what you have on hand.

I happen to have a brother-in-law that does a lot of fishing and recently shared some fresh halibut (lucky me), so that is what I used here. However, you can pretty much use any fish that you prefer…swordfish, cod, sole, salmon, they all work well with this preparation. I didn’t want to go to the market so, I just used what I had on hand. The ingredient list is for one parchment package, so just repeat the process for however many servings you are cooking.

INGREDIENTS
1 sheet of parchment, per filet
6-8 oz. filet, per person
kosher salt & fresh ground pepper
1-2 scallions, sliced
4-5 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 Tbs. capers
1-2 Tbs. white wine
1 Tbs. butter
3-4 sprigs of thyme, lemon thyme if you have it
2-3 lemon slices

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 450º
For each filet, lay out one sheet of parchment paper (tin foil would also work) on a rimmed sheet pan. Place filet on one side of the parchment, then place the tomatoes around the filet, season with the salt and pepper. Next, add the sliced scallions, the capers, wine and top with the butter, the thyme sprigs and then top with the lemon slices.

• 

• 

Finally, fold over the parchment and seal the edges by rolling and crimping the edges. Do this for each portion and have no fear, there is no perfect way to do this. They may not look perfectly packaged (you will get better at it, the more you do it), however they will still taste incredible! You should be able to get two to three packages per sheet pan.

Lastly, just pop them in the oven and cook for 10-15 minutes, depending on the thickness of each filet. If you are doing several packages, you can increase the cooking time to 15-18 minutes. When done, remove each package to a dinner plate, cut open (careful, hot steam!), squeeze a bit of lemon juice over the contents and serve it right in the parchment. Since everything is cooked right in the parchment, cleanup is a snap.

NOTES
Some nice additions are kalamata olives, julienned vegetables, a pinch of crushed red pepper, or sliced summer squash. Also feel free to change up the herbs; rosemary, dill or parsley are good here too. As I said, the variations are numerous here, the choices are all yours.