This salmon en papillote recipe was created and sent to Kitchen Geekery by Catherine Baldridge.En papillote (French: “In parchment” or "al cartoccio" in Italian) is a dish where food – usually fish or chicken – is steamed in a folded parcel made from paper, or sometimes foil. Some dishes cooked this way will require moisture to be added for this steam but this one doesn’t need any added moisture.Orzo looks like rice but it is pasta so is still quite light, and it combines fantastically with the salmon and vegetables.Where possible you should try to serve it to your guests still in the parcel, as it really makes an impression.
Ingredients
- 2 salmon fillets
- 100 g orzo
- 6 cherry tomatoes (chopped)
- 6 black olives (chopped)
- handful of baby leaf spinach
- 1 small onion (chopped)
- 1 garlic clove (finely chopped)
- 1 baby leek (finely chopped)
- 1 lemon
- 1 tbsp pine nuts
- 1 tbsp chopped parsley
- 1 rosemary spring (chopped finely)
- salt & pepper (to season)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6.
- Cook the orzo according to the instructions.
- Add the onion, leek, garlic, and tomatoes to some olive oil in a pan and cook for 5 minutes until soft.
- Add the olives, spinach, pine nuts, parsley and rosemary.
- Halve the lemon and add the juice of one half to the pan, and season to taste.
- Stir in the cooked orzo.
- Take two large sheets of baking parchment and fold in half, then open up again.
- Divide the pasta between the two sheets of paper, and place one salmon fillet on top of the pasta in each one and garnish each with 2 thick slices from the remaining half of the lemon.
- Season with black pepper and drizzle with some olive oil.
- Fold over the parchment and crimp the edges so that the salmon and orzo is sealed inside – make sure to get this right or it won't steam!
- Place in the oven for 15 minutes.
- Serve in the parcel.
