Fish en Papillote

I'm so fancy. ish.

I've been really trying to eat more fish lately. You know, health and all. Plus, it can be a sustainable part of your diet, as long as you follow guidelines like these provided by Monterey Bay Aquarium. Every time I'm there I pick up their latest Seafood Watch guide and keep it in my wallet so I know what to stay away from at the store. The problem with these guidelines is it's not as cut and dry as "this fish is good, this fish is bad". It's more like "this fish caught here, in this way, is usually good". This is where it comes in handy to get your fish from an actual person behind a counter, of whom you can ask questions. Of course, I'm unexplicably shy about things like that, but my market always notes the region as well as whether the fish is wild or farmed.

If you're not getting it by now, the fact that I'm imperfect is kind of the whole point of this blog, and here I've failed once again. I've been buying pacific red snapper because rockfish (its other name) was listed as "best" or "good" on my pocket guide. Now that I've gone and found the full list for my faithful reader(s?), it's looking more like "avoid". Whadya know, my blog teaches me things too.

Cooking fish is great, not because it tastes particularly wonderful, but because it's so quick. A thin fillet like snapper cooks through in no time flat. I usually throw it on the stove with some olive oil, salt and pepper, my standard for just about any food. This particular day, a coworker had given me some homegrown cherry tomatoes and they sounded really good with fish, but really moist fish. No dried out edges.

Martha Stewart is obsessed with cooking en papillote and seems to think this is a normal staple of cooking. I think she's insane, but it popped into my head as a way to keep the fish moist. In case you're not Martha, en papillote basically means baked in a pocket of parchment paper. I opened up Joy, 'cause this is just the kind of technique a reference like that is best at, and got crackin'.

Joy insists on lots of moisture inside the packet, so I added about a tablespoon each of butter and olive oil. There was lots and lots of liquid swimming around the fish once it was done, so I could probably cut back on this. Then I just diced up a quarter onion and some garlic and halved the cherry tomatoes, and threw them on top with s&p. Joy had me cut the parchment in a heart shape and fold it closed in a kinda funny overlap way. I have no idea why a circle wouldn't work, but I wasn't going to mess with Joy. The overlapping folds kept the pocket closed despite steam building up a bit inside. Parchment works better than foil because it keeps in just enough steam, but lets some out too.

Only 15 minutes in the toaster oven and all set. This was yummy, especially for fish. The name sounds so fancy, you'd never imagine a full dinner could be on the table in a half hour. Lest you think I've gone to the dark side, I served this with Annie's Mac & Cheese and some stir fried cauliflower (Yes, it's purple. CSA veggies come in some interesting colors).