Mediterranean Rockfish in Parchment

Mediterranean Rockfish in Parchment

On a recent trip with Gary (Sandman) to Big Sur, we had a lengthy discussion of cooking in parchment versus foil. This was followed by Etienne (Sackyak) sharing one of his fish in parchment recipes which used a unique parmesan cheese sandwich technique which was totally awesome. Cooking in parchment has some definite advantages: delicate cooking technique suitable to small fillets, elegant presentation and EASY cleanup. I was in search of an elegant one dish meal and here is what I came up with. Serves 4 and it is great for entertaining.   Really not as hard as it may seem.  

Ingredients  

4 small rockfish fillets or 2 large fillets
4-6 large Yukon Gold potatoes thinly sliced
½ bag  baby spinach
1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon  finely chopped oregano
2 teaspoons sea salt, divided
2 teaspoons coarse ground pepper, divided
2 shallots thinly sliced
4-6 garlic cloves minced
1/2 pint grape tomatoes sliced in half
12 Kalamata-style black olives, pitted and cut into slivers
2 tablespoons capers
1 lemon, ½ very thinly sliced, the other half juiced
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)

Directions  

Preheat oven to 400°F with a greased baking sheet on bottom rack.

Cut out four 18-24” sheets of parchment (width depends on fillet thickness).

Cut potatoes into very thin slices. Toss potatoes with 2 tablespoons oil, 1 teaspoon oregano, ½ of the shallots, 1/4 teaspoon sea salt and ground pepper. Roast potatoes on the baking sheet for 15 minutes. This step is optional depending on how thin the potatoes are cut. Divide potatoes among parchment squares, arranging them in center, slightly overlapping.  Return baking sheet to the oven. Add ½ cup of baby spinach on top of the potatoes then 1/8 cup of grated parmesan cheese. Top with a piece of fish. Sprinkle each fillet with sea salt and ground pepper, then top each with 1/8 cup parmesan cheese, a lemon slice, shallots, garlic, olive slivers, capers, 1/2 teaspoon oregano, tomatoes, squeeze of lemon juice and 1 teaspoon of olive oil. Dust with red pepper flakes (optional).

Fold over the top of the parchment; then roll the sides in to form a sealed pouch. Put packages on the hot baking sheet and bake until fish is just cooked through, 15 to 22 minutes (15 minutes small rockfish, 18 minutes medium rockfish, 20-22 minutes large rockfish).

Carefully remove packets to individual serving plates and slit the top of each or let guests open their own.

 

Thanks for sharing your recipe.  That looks delicious.  Gonna have to try this one.

Its like, a different kind of fish porn!    Looks awesome!!!!  You could add some couscous to that, with the fish, steam it all up nice and will absorb a bunch of that flavor! 

For Foil V.S. Parchment paper, it usually comes down to your ingredients.  Foil reacts to acidity, makes things taste like metal.  Parchment is awesome, but doesn't do well on direct heat (burns!).  So if i'm going to use a grill to do some pouch cooking,  I just use both, with parchment inside of the foil. 

Since Yakuza first brought up the topic, I have been experimenting with different methods of the basic recipe.  The paper is the bomb and what I really like about it, is how easy it is to customize. 

my wife tends to like more acidic flavors, so extra lemon on hers, but she hates olives so nix that.  I like heat so add more chiles and use her olives on mine.  Kids like it bland, just salt and pepper.  The combos are endless.  I also find using zuchinni, especially those large ones that you forgot to harvest work like a potato in this recipe.

Damn!!! I have not had breakfest or lunch today...u guys are killing me...

BOOKMARK added thanks...

This is a part of NCKA that my wife doesn't understand - burly fishermen exchanging parchment recipes. Oh well, I fish largely because I like cooking and eating fish. Growing up in a restaurant may have had something to do with it.

Yakuza - thanks for starting the parchment craze. You left out that the French cut the parchment into a heart or butterfly shape which is where it gets its papiotte name. A complete waste of time IMHO unless you are trying to score some MAJOR WAF or GAF points. Roll it up like a dry bag is what I do. YOu need an air tight seal, many ways to do that. 

Al - cous cous is in a whole fish preparation from Alton Brown which is next on my hit list.
Eugene - excellent overview. One thing I will be trying is a parchment bar where guests can choose which ingredients to add. At least they can't blame me if they don't like it.

One last tip is to go easy on the salt when salting the fish. The olives and capers have salt in it. Also, don't use the grated parmesan in the plastic container, buy a chunk and grate it yourself. Takes a few minutes more but worth the time IMO. Aromatics on top of the fish (lemmon, garlic, onions, oregano, capers) with an insulating layer under the fish (potatoes, spinach) are important to maximize this technique. The fish is supposed to steam, not boil or fry. Lastly limit adding a lot of liquid to the pouches because the the fish excretes liquid in the cooking. Bona petite.

Scott

don't use the grated parmesan in the plastic container, buy a chunk and grate it yourself. Takes a few minutes more but worth the time IMO.

when I was in college my neighbors were Italians here on a work assignment.  They made this fantastic salmon pasta recipe and one of the guys slaps his head and says he forgot the parmesan cheese.  When I asked if he wanted me to go get my green kraft can, he looked at me as if I asked if I could piss on his food.

luckily he found the real thing in his fridge and since then, I have never gone back to anything but a fresh grated wedge.