Baked Fish en Papillote

Because I don’t eat vegetables, or salad for that matter, buying salad dressing never crossed my mind. B bought Kraft buttermilk ranch dressing but hated the taste and wanted to throw it out.

Screeechh! Throw out perfectly-good-not-yet-expired food? Halt! The failed chef and her second-chance-recipe brain cells to the rescue!

I found out that one can do buttermilk ranch dressing marinade, and so I did just that with my sutchi fish fillet.

Fish reminds me of another East-West clash. I like whole fish, because I am good at digging out all the fish meat from different crevices of the fish like the back of the eye and the sides of the bones. It’s like treasure hunting to me. My favourite part of the fish is near the tail. In the past, I tore apart the area underneath the mouth, dig the eye balls out to suck on fish eyes, savouring the juices the eyes yield and appreciating its chewy texture. Then I break the part of the fish in between the eyes, scouring for fish brain. When I can find fish eggs, oh I'm in heaven especially if it was boiled in gravy with the fish.

Everyone does that right?

Or maybe not.

But never let it be said that I allow any part of the fish go to waste and give up its life to swim zen-fully in the sea for no good cause.

But fillets? Oh, I find fillets so wasteful - think of all the fish meat that is wasted! But because I don’t yet know how to clean a fish, I only buy fillets to cook with.

Because life is full of detours, I'm going to talk about mussels which I bought and realised were bad. That's what you get for trying to save money and buy things on sale. It pains my heart and my wallet, but this, unlike the Kraft buttermilk ranch dressing is not perfectly-good-not-yet-expired food.

The internet saved my life. Who knew that you had to check that all the shells must be tightly closed, or if open, to knock it gently so that the shells close tightly? The internet also grossed me out. Because now I realise that I would have had to boil the mussels alive. I thought they were supposed to be dead when I bought them. You know, like fish, and shrimps, and other kinds of meat. Highly doubt I’d cook with mussels again, because B doesn’t take to them in any case.

But as I was researching how to cook recipes, I chanced upon this video and realise I can adapt the 'en papilotte' style of cooking fish.



So here's how I made Baked Fish, Attempt Numero Deux. This time baking it using the en papillote method.

Leading leftovers: Kraft buttermilk ranch dressing, tomatoes

Baked Fish en Papillote

2 piece of wax paper, with enough room to wrap the fish pieces in and folding of the edges
1/2 cup of Kraft buttermilk ranch dressing
1 piece fish fillet, halved
1 tbs olive oil
2 tsp minced garlic
a handful of chopped parsley
1/2 cup tomatoes, diced
a pinch of salt and freshly cracked pepper

1. Coat the fish fillet in olive oil
2. Season with salt and freshly cracked black pepper and half the chopped parsley
3. Place the fish halves in a Ziploc bag of Kraft buttermilk ranch dressing and marinate overnight in the fridge.
4. The next day, preheat oven to 190 degrees celsius.
5. Fold the wax paper in half and open it up.
6. Place each fish fillet on one piece of the wax paper, and sprinkle the diced tomatoes, minced garlic and the rest of the parsley on the fish.
7. Fold the parchment in half, and from the edge, keep folding over the next fold. Press each fold down firmly to form a seal all around. It is actually like making the seal for curry puff pastry, or watch the video above to see how it is done.
8. Place on a baking sheet and bake it in the pre-heated oven for 14 minutes.
9. Serve the pouch on a plate and watch with pleasure when your guests tear open the wax paper and take in the aroma of the fish as it burst out.

I prefer to serve it in the paper rather than taking the fish out. One, because it looks very elegant and tres professional, and two because that's one step omitted and one less chance for me to mess something up.
Once you tear open the wax paper, throw it out, or else the wax paper gets soggy in the fish juices and makes a mess on the plate.

Yes, I say, throw it out, or else! I've been known to be stretch my dictatorial muscle inappropriately like that sometimes.

Aspirational recipes:

• thepauperedchef's cooking in a bag
• monahansseafood cod en papillote

Read below for Attempt Numero Uno

Baked Fish in buttermilk ranch dressing

1 sutchi fish fillet, cut in half (or similar fish like halibut or cod)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup Kraft buttermilk ranch dressing

1. Combine olive oil and buttermilk ranch dressing in a Ziploc bag.
2. Place the fish halves in it and marinate overnight.
3. The next day, preheat oven to 190 degrees celsius.
4. Place the marinaded fish either on a gratin dish or wrapped in aluminium foil.
5. Bake the fish in the pre-heated oven for 10-15 minutes

(A helpful resource to baking fish advises giving 10 minutes baking time per 1 inch (2.5 cm), measured at the thickest part of the fish. Thin fillets usually take 15 minutes, whilst small steaks approximately 10 - 15 minutes.)

What I would do next time:

• Lessen the amount of olive oil
• Baking it in a gratin dish dries out the fish a little, so leave it protected in aluminium foil.
• To add other ingredients like a bit of chopped garlic to the marinade perhaps?