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salmon in a bag

Picture
We all know pig in a blanket, but who knew fish in a bag could be so easy and so good?

The fancy name for this is Poussin en Papillote, but all it really means is putting some salmon and vegetables in parchment and baking it.

A complete meal of starch, vegetables and protein made in about 40 minutes. As a bonus, it can be served from an open paper bag for hipster presentation value.

Salmon Prep
A fillet of salmon, skinless in this case
Hawaiian salt and pepper

Vegetable Bed
1 or 2 small red potatoes, 
or  half a bag of the mixed baby potatoes
1 zucchini, thinly sliced
1 red, green, or yellow pepper, thinly sliced
1 1/2 shallots. thinly sliced
(and yes, this is the actual measure)
Sauce for Baking
2-3T olive oil
3T apple cider vinegar
1t grainy Dijon mustard
1/2 shallot, finely chopped (This is where the other half of the shallot goes!)
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
Hawaiian salt and black pepper, to taste

Half a lemon, thinly sliced to lay over the fish

Save the other half-lemon for the very end

Mix together all the ingredients for the sauce and set it aside. It will be a pretty thick liquid.

Thinly chop all the vegetables.

Lay a piece of parchment paper over a 9 x 13 baking sheet that has a slight lip to it (in case your bag leaks). Lay the potatoes down first and sprinkle with a bit of salt and pepper. Layer the peppers, shallots, and zucchini over the potatoes.

Dribble about half the sauce over the vegetables.

Place the salmon on top and then dribble the rest over the fish and vegetables. Put the lemon slices over the fish. The photo above shows the pre-baking pile of food.

Construction of the baking bag
You can google "en papillote" and watch a bunch YouTube videos for multi-step origami-folding a parchment paper baking bag from a half-circle or square piece or parchment that you happened to size perfectly. Or you can simply use another piece of parchment paper, fold up the edges and staple 
it shut. I've thought of using an actual paper bag, but it would probably soak up all that steam cooking goodness.

Bake at 450 for about 15 minutes if fish is fresh, 20 minute if slightly frozen.

To serve, carefully slice open the bag. Be careful to stay away from the staples. Squeeze the other half of the lemon over to finish, to taste.

NOTES:
1) I thought the mustard vinegar sauce with lemons piled on was going to be way, way, way too puckery/sour. I was wrong.
2) Costco salmon is skinless, but comes in a massive portion, so see #3
3) I cut Costco Salmon-o-saurus into regular-people-sized portions prior to freezing. This worked really well.

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