Salmon in a Bag
SKU:
Who knew fish in a bag could be so easy and so good?
A complete meal of starch, vegetables and skinless salmon made in about 40 minutes. As a bonus, it can opened dramatically and served from steaming hot from the open parchment bag to score presentation points.
PSA: requires parchment paper and either a stapler or turkey pins.
Ingredients
|
Baking Sauce
2-3T olive oil 3T apple cider vinegar 1t grainy Dijon mustard ½ shallot, finely chopped Note: you will need 2 shallots in total 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped Hawaiian salt and black pepper, to taste Half a lemon, thinly sliced to lay over the fish |
Salmon Prep
A fillet of salmon, skinned 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 ½ shallots. thinly sliced The other half of the lemon for the very end. |
What To Do
Make sure you have a center rack in the oven and pre-heat to 400°F.
Prep the sauce. Mix together olive oil, apple cider vinegar, Dijon mustard, chopped shallot, garlic, salt and pepper and for set aside. It will be a pretty thick liquid.
Remove the skin from the salmon fillet. I highly recommend saving it for another meal. (See note below)
Thinly slice zucchini and potatoes into rounds. Thinly slice red peppers and shallots into rings.
Measure a piece of parchment paper to be twice the length of a large baking sheet. Use a baking sheet that has a slight lip to it (in case your bag leaks). Fold the parchment paper, and open it flat. Lay the parchment on the baking sheet so that you will be able to fold it over and seal it once you have stuffed it.
In the middle of the section of parchment paper that the baking sheet, lay the potatoes in a single, or at most double layer so that is approximately the size of your fillet. Sprinkle potatoes with a bit of salt and pepper. Layer peppers, shallots, and zucchini over the potatoes. Keep a good margin of clear space on all edges of the parchment,
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. It should be fairly short (no towers of food please), so that you will be able to close up the parchment.
Fold the other half of the parchment over the composed salmon and vegetables. There are two options for sealing.
Bake at 400°F for about 20 minutes if fish is fresh, 30 minutes if slightly frozen.
To serve, carefully slice open the bag in the middle. Be careful to stay away from the staples or turkey pins.
Squeeze the other half of the lemon over to finish, to taste.
Prep the sauce. Mix together olive oil, apple cider vinegar, Dijon mustard, chopped shallot, garlic, salt and pepper and for set aside. It will be a pretty thick liquid.
Remove the skin from the salmon fillet. I highly recommend saving it for another meal. (See note below)
Thinly slice zucchini and potatoes into rounds. Thinly slice red peppers and shallots into rings.
Measure a piece of parchment paper to be twice the length of a large baking sheet. Use a baking sheet that has a slight lip to it (in case your bag leaks). Fold the parchment paper, and open it flat. Lay the parchment on the baking sheet so that you will be able to fold it over and seal it once you have stuffed it.
In the middle of the section of parchment paper that the baking sheet, lay the potatoes in a single, or at most double layer so that is approximately the size of your fillet. Sprinkle potatoes with a bit of salt and pepper. Layer peppers, shallots, and zucchini over the potatoes. Keep a good margin of clear space on all edges of the parchment,
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. It should be fairly short (no towers of food please), so that you will be able to close up the parchment.
Fold the other half of the parchment over the composed salmon and vegetables. There are two options for sealing.
- Easy way
Fold over the edges twice (like hemming a dress or pants), and simply staple shut - Slightly less easy way, aka because I couldn't find the stapler at the time
Fold over edges like the easy way, and use turkey pins to seal shut. Pretend you are pinning a hem with very long pins and be very careful not to poke your fingers.
Bake at 400°F for about 20 minutes if fish is fresh, 30 minutes if slightly frozen.
To serve, carefully slice open the bag in the middle. Be careful to stay away from the staples or turkey pins.
Squeeze the other half of the lemon over to finish, to taste.
Notes and Talking Story
- I thought the mustard vinegar sauce with lemons piled on was going to be way, way, way too puckery/sour. I was wrong.
- The fancy name for this is Poussin en Papillote. 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 of parchment that you happened to size perfectly.
- Or you can simply use a double-sized piece of parchment paper, fold over like an envelop, and fold over the edges, and staple it shut.
- Excellent as a cold leftover. I've eaten it the next day with a toasted bagel or bread, for breakfast or lunch.
- Keep the salmon skin by wrapping it up tightly in plastic, and then double bagging in a Ziploc, mainly because I'm OCD that way. Have it the next day as air-fried furikake salmon skin.