Pesce Al Cartoccio

I love making foods wrapped in pastry or crusts, 'en croute' as they say and those are invariably heavy. How can they not be? It's usually beef, ham or bacon and cheese kind of preps in puff pastry, my brother would call it High BP wrapped in a Coronary (hahahah!) putting my only guinea pig off my 'en croute' dishes ... oh ya! the guinea pig is my dad these days since A is away! So from cooking for a strapping young man I am now cooking for a kid and a senior which makes me have to question a lot of the ingredients and techniques I otherwise love to use!Which is when I decided to go back to steaming, I personally don't care for most steamed foods except foods made in parchment, those retain flavour like no other dish. The paper traps in everything, or banana leaves too but those are now harder to find, so parchment it is! And I usually make fish this way, with vegetables and different seasonings, flavours and blends. Here are a few ideas to try with Papillotes.....

I use sole fillets, though I feel drier fish like Tuna turn out pretty good too. The quantities below are for 1 papillote with 2 pieces of 150 gms each. I don't use one  large piece because it tends to dry out. The fillets are just about an inch or a wee bit thicker.

Oriental:

1 tbsp dark soy
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp chilli flakes
Salt & Pepper
Veggies: a cupful of slivers of red and yellow bell peppers, spring onions and 2 cloves of garlic and 1/2" of ginger (crushed)

Season the fish with the sauces place in the centre of half a sheet of parchment, about 12" by 12", top with the veggies, fold and place on a baking tray with the folded side down so it doesn't open up. Bake on 200 for about 15 minutes.

Italian:

1 tsp Chilli paste
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp roasted sesame seeds
2 tbsp feta cheese
Salt & Pepper
Veggies: sliced zucchini, sliced tomato, sliced white onion

Season the fish, place in the centre of parchment paper, top with cheese and veggies, fold and bake.