Sunday, 18 January 2009

En papillote - a great way to cook fish


En papillote is a method of cooking food in a paper pouch or parcel. It is a very effective manner of cookery because all the nutrients are contained within - it works on the basis whereby moisture from the meat and/or vegetables is trapped and steams themselves.

This was last night's dinner: well-seasoned coral trout cutlet/steaks, on a bed of summer vegetables like yellow capsicums, tomatoes, zucchini and red onion, lemon slices, bit of minced garlic, thyme, dash of white wine and a good slug of extra virgin olive oil.

I cooked the parcels in a very hot oven (210C) for 15 minutes, then left it in the oven with the heat turned off, for a further 5 minutes. The beauty of cooking fish and meats this way is that over-cooking won't render them tough and dry because the pouch in which they cook in prevents any moisture from being lost.

My only regret is I didn't have any steamed rice to soak up the sweet delicious fish juices.

Maybe next time.

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