Fish en papillote

Occasionally we try to make our lunches here at work a little more interactive, for example, tacos where you choose your own toppings, salad bar, sandwich bar, chili and baked potato, and today's lunch fish en papillote. People enjoy doing a little bit of the work themselves, even if that means as little as unwrapping their own fish. Instead of the regular fish and vegetables with light seasoning, today's fish took on an Asian sauce, recipe courtesy of my co-worker.

Fish en Papillote

Cooking time: 25 minutes

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients

4 white fish filets, such as basa or tilapia (about 6 ounces each)

1 medium zucchini

1 cup onion, sliced

4 parchment papers

Sauce:

1/4 cup soy sauce

1.5 tbsp Korean chili paste gochujang

2 tbsp Korean coarse chili powder

1 tbsp rice syrup

1/4 small pear

6 garlic cloves, whole

1/3 large onion

2 green onions, chopped 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. For the sauce, whisk together the soy sauce, chili paste, rice syrup, and chili powder in a medium bowl. Cut the onion and pear into large chunks. Using a blender, blend together the pear, onion, and garlic. Add the vegetable mixture to the soy sauce mixture. Add the chopped green onions and mix altogether.
3. To assemble, lay out the parchment papers. In the center of the paper, lay out 1/4 cup of the sliced onions and some slices of the zucchini. Lay the fish filet on top of the vegetables. Spread about 1 tbsp of the sauce on the fish and fold over the paper. Fold the edges of the paper together to create a seam, making sure it is enclosing the fish. Lay on baking sheets and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve immediately. 

Nutritional Analysis:
per serving: 201 calories, 3g fat (1.0g saturated, 0.7g polyunsaturated, 0.8g monounsaturated), 8.2g carbohydrates, 1.4g fiber, 40.5g protein

**Helpful tips and common mistakes

Not only is this dish incredibly easy to make, it's extremely healthy! The part that might be the most time-consuming is wrapping each of the fish filets in the papers, especially if you're doing it for a large amount of people.

Any white fish can be used for this recipe; I used basa filets but tilapia, halibut, cod can all be used as well. I also ran out of zucchini halfway through so sliced Korean radish was used instead. 

To enclose the fish, simply fold over the edges. Try to fold them in a circular motion so you can half-circle shaped envelopes. 

Ready to bake!

As the fish bakes, it steams in the envelopes and causes the papers to rise. When you are ready to dig in, you can cut an opening and the steam will escape. 

This method of cooking allows the fish to stay incredibly moist while retaining the flavors. The sauce is a bit spicy but still has clean flavors. Light and healthy, perfect for the summer!