I recently enjoyed Poisson en Papillote at an excellent French bistro in San Francisco. I was with about a dozen friends who raved about the fish dish, served family-style – and several wondered how they might create it at home when I declared it would be easy to prepare. “En Papillote” is French for in paper, and it sounds way more exotic than it is in actual preparation.
Remember those “hobo packets” from childhood outdoor cooking? No? Then you perhaps missed out in Camp Fire Girls’ pre-teen activities! My early takes on this method involved sliced potatoes, onions, butter, salt and pepper wrapped in foil and placed over a campfire or barbeque to roast until tender. I was maybe eight or ten years old at the time, and I thought they were delicious!
Fast forward to the 21st Century, and the technique is pretty much the same. Only here it’s fancied up with fresh fish fillets (more French!) We are assembling the fish with a few vegetables and herbed butter, wrapping in parchment paper, and giving it a quick roast in a hot over, and voila! (Do you detect a theme here?)
All to say: this dish does not require mad skills to prepare, for all its potential fancy presentation! This preparation is so approachable, your pre-teens might want to have a go at it – and will enjoy folding the paper from the classic to shapes of their own.
Pretty much any fish you enjoy will work here. The key is to select fillets that are about one-half inch thick. The more uniform the thickness in each fillet, as well as in the batch you roast together, the more likely the fish will cook evenly.
The vegetables can be mixed-and-matched to your heart’s content. Go with whatever is in season, noting to cut and slice them so they cook to a nice texture in the 12 – 15-ish minutes of roasting. Ditto the herbs and aromatics for the butter.
This recipe can be easily scaled for a solo dinner to feeding a crowd. I often make two packets and roast them in our countertop oven for a quick dinner; adding a salad or a sauté of the same vegetables and herbs that went into the packets.
Here’s another version from epicurious.com, the one from which I adapted mine.
Parchment Wrapped Roasted Fish
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- 3 tablespoons tender herbs (chives, parsley, cilantro, etc.) finely minced
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper freshly ground
- 2 cups zucchini sliced into 1/4" thick matchsticks
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes sliced into halves
- 1 cup leeks washed well and thinly sliced crosswise
- 2 large garlic cloves thinly sliced
- 4 6 ounce fish fillets such as arctic char, salmon, cod, etc. 1/2-inch thick
Necessary to Prepare
- 4 sheets parchment paper 12" x 16" each
Instructions
- Position an oven rack to the lower third position, preheat
the oven to 400° F. - Squish the softened butter a bit in a medium sized bowl with a spoon, then add the herbs and mix to evenly distribute the herbs and butter.
- Fold the parchment sheets in half crosswise and use scissors to cut halves into 4 large hearts using as much of the folded sheet as possible. You should have minimal
triangular-shaped scraps off three of the corners. Unfold and place parchment hearts open on a work surface. - Spoon a scant tablespoon of herb butter in the center of one half of each heart, then divide the zucchini, cherry tomatoes, leeks and garlic evenly into small piles over butter. Lay
fish over vegetables, then top with 1 tablespoon herb butter. Season each with salt and pepper to taste. - One-by-one, fold the 2nd, empty half of the parchment over to cover. You may have to
adjust the contents a bit to ensure the cut edges of the heart meet. Begin folding from the rounded end, pinching each fold as you make your way to the tip. When you reach the tip, twist the end tightly and tuck beneath the packet. - Place the packets on a baking sheet and roast for about 12 – 15 minutes. The time will
depend on the thickness and denseness of the fish. You will begin to smell the herbed butter, leeks and garlic cooking, then the fish when ready. Remove from oven and serve immediately. The contents will continue to cook/steam until the packets are opened, so take care to not let them sit too long before serving.
