Recipe: Fish en Papillote (Fish Cooked in Parchment)

It blows my mind that it’s taken me this long to try this method of cooking fish. It always looks so elegant and dramatic on TV, especially when hot steam wafts out of the just-opened parcels of fish.

In reality, getting a tilapia facial is neither elegant nor dramatic, but the meal that follows absolutely is. Since the wine gently steams the fish, it stays incredibly moist and flakes effortlessly, while the vegetables maintain a sturdy crunch. Given the absence of dirty dishes and ease of cooking fish in parchment, there’s no doubt this will be my go-to cooking method.

Note: You’ll find that there are no measurements for this recipe. As opposed to measuring, it’s much easier to adjust up or down by portion size. For each person you’ll need 1 filet of fish and enough vegetables to create a small pile on top. There are also a handful of substitution ideas below – once you have the method down, feel free to use whichever veggies and aromatics you enjoy most!

Substitution Suggestions:

Vegetables – carrot, squash, string beans, onion, thin asparagus, leeks, celery

Citrus – orange, lemon, lime

Fresh Herbs – thyme, rosemary, mint, basil, cilantro, scallions

Ingredients

1 filet of tilapia per person (can substitute founder, sole, or other flaky white fish)

Carrot, peeled and julienned

Summer squash (green or yellow), julienned

String beans, ends trimmed

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Shallot, thinly sliced

Orange slices

Fresh thyme

White wine

Recipe

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine carrot, squash and string beans in a bowl and toss with enough olive oil to coat. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Lay out 1 square (about 12 inches) of parchment paper per filet, and place one filet on the right half of each piece of paper. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Scatter shallots over the fish, and then top with a few slices of orange. Create a pile of vegetables on top of each piece of fish. Lastly, place a few sprigs of thyme on top of the veggies. 

To close up the first parcel, begin by folding the left side of the paper over to the right, covering the fish. Starting at a corner, fold the edge of the paper over itself. Continue around the perimeter of the fish, being sure to tightly crimp the paper as you go. Right before the package is completely sealed, carefully pour in a few (2-3) glugs of wine. Finish crimping the paper and fold any final edge under the bottom. Repeat with all of the filets of fish.

Place all of the fish parcels on a baking sheet, and bake for about 13 minutes. When the fish is done cooking, you should be able to easily insert a knife or fork into the thickest part of the filet.

When fish is cooked through, open the parchment and serve immediately.

Recipe: Thai Chicken Salad with Peanut Dressing

I’m sitting here noshing on this salad so I can get my peanut fix without pouncing the 36 peanut butter cookies cooling on the kitchen counter. The great thing about 5-ingredient recipes? You always have everything on-hand. The bad thing about 5-ingredient recipes? You always have everything on-hand. Especially notable when it’s pouring in New York and you don’t quite feel like trudging to the store.  

(Edit: Looking at the paragraph above makes me dizzy. Sorry I'm not sorry.)

But on to this wonderfully flavorful and healthy chicken salad, brought to my attention by my friend and social-media extraordinaire, JM.

For fear of blowing $10+ a day on lunch and being on a first-name basis with the Qdoba employees, I’ve been revisiting the habit of bringing my lunch to work. Last week it was white bean salad with olives, and this week it was this Thai-inspired chicken salad with peanut dressing.

Poaching keeps the chicken extremely moist, which contrasts nicely with the crunch of the broccoli slaw – Crunch that’s still very much present 5 days later. Great for offices without a microwave, since it’s best eaten cold or room temp.

[Original Recipe from Foodily/Redbook]

Ingredients (serves 3-4)

Salad:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2 cups once cooked and shredded; can substitute shredded rotisserie chicken)

2 cups broccoli slaw mix

1 cup coarsely grated carrot (about 2 medium carrots)

1/3 cup sliced scallions

Dressing:

1 tbsp vegetable or canola oil

2 tbsp peanut butter

2 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1 tbsp honey

4 tsp gluten free soy sauce

¼ tsp to 1 tsp Sriracha or other hot sauce (optional; I used ½ tsp)

Juice of ½ a lime

Optional Garnishes:

Crushed peanuts

Lime wedges

Recipe

Fill a pot with enough water to cover the chicken, and place over high heat. Once the water is boiling, reduce it to a simmer. Add both chicken breasts, cover pot with a lid, and poach for about 12 minutes. After 12 minutes, remove one piece of chicken and cut into the thickest part to check for doneness. If the chicken is still at all pink, return it to the pot and continue to cook until the meat is cooked through.

Once the chicken is cooked through, move to a paper towel lined plate to cool.

While chicken is cooling, whisk together all of the dressing ingredients until it's completely smooth. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the broccoli slaw, grated carrots and scallions. Using your hands or two forks, shred the cooled chicken and add that to the veggies. Toss to combine.

Pour the dressing over the salad and toss until all of the ingredients are coated.

Serve cold or at room temp, and garnish with crushed peanuts and lime wedges. 

Recipe: Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

Remember in sixth grade when you were awkwardly skinny plus taller than all the boys in school, and your mom made you eat a spoonful of peanut butter every time your twig legs walked you through the kitchen? Right.

Well these flour-less, naturally gluten free cookies are the publicly acceptable, portable equivalent to that spoonful of peanut butter. But by all means, continue to eat right out of the jar in the comfort of your own home. It’s not like I did it last week or anything. (Pangs of hunger + no GF snacks in sight = using a spoon to dodge gluten crumbs in a jar of Skippy.)

These are pretty much as simple as it gets – mix 5 ingredients together in a bowl, portion the dough out on a baking sheet, and pop them in the oven. NO ONE who tastes them will have an inkling something that good could have been that easy.  

Tip: When measuring peanut butter, honey, molasses, or any other ingredient with a high sticky/gooey factor, spray the inside of the measuring spoon/cup with cooking spray first.   

[Recipe from Love, Veggies and Yoga]

Ingredients

1 cup peanut butter (smooth or chunky)

¾ cup white sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

1/3 cup lightly packed brown sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

1 egg

½ tsp vanilla

Recipe

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, mix all ingredients with a rubber spatula or spoon until well combined.

Using your hands, roll about a heaping tablespoon of dough into a ball and place on the baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough, and leave space for the cookies to spread.

Use a fork to push a criss-cross pattern onto the top of each cookie. Do not  flatten all the way. Sprinkle the top of each cookie with a pinch of each type of sugar.

Bake for about 12 minutes. The cookies will still feel extremely soft to the touch, and will darken just slightly in color. After removing from oven, allow the cookies to cool for at least 15 minutes before handling them. They’ll firm up as they cool.