Food Network Scholar: Fish Baked in Parchment

Television Feasts

I am a home cook who backyard gardens and has a serious closet addiction to the Food Network. I envision visiting the world in my own kitchen.

From Julia to Giada, I am a bi-product of the quirky world of anything food television. At age 10 I wanted to lunch with Julia; at 12 I thought sitting at Graham Kerr's table would be bliss; in college I was a diligent voyeur student of Jeff Smith's; and as a newlywed I envisioned myself being Martha. Then the sky opened up and violin music played in the background when I discovered an entire family of food shows on the blossoming food network. Twenty years later I am still a home chef with a backyard garden, yet in my head I am a trained chef who has eaten her way around the world, tasted all things exotic, competed in many challenges, judged the best of the best, and have a circle of friends which includes Emeril, Bobby, Rachael and more. I like to learn and challenge myself simply for the pleasure of all things food. I am a student of the University of Food Network and my textbooks, exams and extra-curricular activities all stem from channel 39.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Fish Baked in Parchment

Going to the grocery store wasn't in the cards today. I got wrapped up with more cleaning. I know I put a lot of time into weekly meal planning in order to save money and eat fresh. However I do understand that sometimes you just don't care about dinner until dinnertime! I almost took a pass on the blog tonight until I remembered I had some Tilapia fillets in the freezer I could fix quickly. Here is a very easy way of making a quick dinner with few ingredients which I learned years ago from my grandfather (who by the way started teaching me to cook when I was in high school). He of course called this 'poisson cuit au four en papillote'. pretty fancy for fish in paper!

Fish Baked in Paper (amounts are for 1 serving)
printable recipe

1-6 oz. fish fillet
olive oil
salt & pepper
Fresh herbs of choice
A few thin slices of lemon
1 tsp. butter
1 T. liquid (water, white wine or chicken stock)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Fold a 15" piece of parchment paper in half. Like you did as a child, cut out a large heart.

Place paper on a baking sheet and lay open.
Place the fillet in the center of one half of the heart. Drizzle slightly with olive oil. Season with salt
& pepper to taste.
Lay the herbs on top.

Lay the lemon slices on next.
Dot the top with the butter.

Fold the paper over the fish.
Starting at the top of the heart, begin folding the paper onto itself until you have pleated almost to the point. Crease tightly.