Fish-en-papillote

As a kid I hated sea food. But as fate would be I was born into a family where people loved fish ( especially dad and sis). Very recently I discovered the roots of my fish averse genes ( they come directly from my mom, who like me does not relish fish). My vegetarian friends often tell me, if they ever decided to initiate non- veg eating, they would begin from fish, but trust me I think meats smell heavenly compared to fish so I cannot fathom why vegetarians  choose fish over meat. I always told myself I would marry a non- fish eater but as fate would be ( again !!) I forgot to pop in this question when I met my hubby. I don't know if his love for fish would ward him away from me, for he was too perfect to be rejected ( Dear Hubby, I still have not got that pasta maker you promised).

But off lately my pregnant hormones has started enjoying sea food. Now I don't have a theory to prove my little one is a fish lover and perhaps shares these traits from his dad but my deductive skills tell me this seems to be the case. Nothing else would motivate me to do crazy stuff like fish-en-papillote when I hate the smell of steamed or baked fish minus the typical Indian spices my palate is accustomed to. So finally I decided to surprise my hubby by suggesting we experiment with fish and parchment paper and the results were amazing.

Ingredients for Fish-en-papillote

Fish fillet- 2 ( I used red snapper)

Carrots ( cut into long strips)- 2
Lemon- 1
Lemongrass- 2 stalks
Butter- 20 gm ( sliced into long strips)
Pepper powder- 1 tsp
Salt- 1 tsp
Chilli flakes- 1 tsp



Directions

Clean the fish fillet. Wash and apt it dry. Cut the parchment paper into squares or heart shape. Fold it into half and open it. Set the carrot stick on one side and sprinkle some salt. Place few strips of butter over the carrot sticks and then place the fish fillet on top. Layer the remaining strips of butter over the fish. Sprinkle salt, pepper and chilli flakes. Place the lemon slices and lemon grass on top.



Seal the edges of the parchment paper so that the juices don't leak while cooking. Preheat oven at 400 F and cook the fish for 20 minutes. 

Note: You can substitute lemons with tangerines. Use the larger lemons not the local Indian ones they tend to be bitter, I had a bad experience using them. Use thin strips of fish , mine was a bit thick and took more time to cook. I did not use a fillet but a fillet would taste better.