En papillote means cooking in parchment. This simple super-healthy dish both looks, and tastes great. I am slightly deviating from the classic recipe, cooking my sea bass in aluminum foil instead of paper, but this hardly makes a difference. The soft tender veggies and delicate sea bass cook and steam nicely for a just a few minutes before being served as a gift-wrapped parcel of joy. The lovely taste comes from pre-cooking the veggies with sugar and wine vinegar. The marjoram leaves deepen the flavour and bring a touch of luxury. You may always replace them with basil or parsley leaves – any fresh herb will do the magic. We take a bite and simply enjoy!
Ingredients
- 2 large carrots, cut into batons
- 1 fennel, cut into small pieces
- 5 large potatoes, cut into disks
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp sugar
- 6 tbsp white wine vinegar
- 4 x 175g sea bass filets
- 20 g butter
- Marjoram leaves
- juice 1 lemon
- salt
- black pepper
Method
1. Put the carrots and fennel in a pan with the oil, sugar, wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Bring to the boil, tightly cover, then cook for 10 mins until the vegetables are tender.
2. Peel and cut the potatoes. Put in a dish suitable for a microwave oven with a little water and boil for 10 minutes on 700W.
3. For each papillote, cut two aluminum foil sheets. Lay them one on top of the other like a cross. Divide the vegetables between each papillote, starting with the potatoes, then the carrots and fennel. Top each with a sea bass fillet and few thin slices of butter. Scatter a few marjoram leaves and a little lemon juice, then season the fish with a little salt and pepper. Fold the paper and seal in the fish, forming a square.
4. Heat oven to 200C. Put the parcels on a baking sheet and bake for 15-20 mins (depending on the thickness of the fish). Serve in their foil and top with some more fresh marjoram leaves.
