Fish en Papillote in the Woodfired Oven
En papillote is just a way of cooking where you put the food into a parcel and then bake it. The parcel is typically made from paper but you can use aluminium foil or even banana leaves. It’s a great way to cook fish in the woodfired oven as the parcel keeps the fish moist and holds in all the flavour. It also means that you can make a parcel for each guest and open it up in front of them – always a winner!
Do give it a try and let us know how you get on – you can see David cooking 3 different fish parcels on our Youtube channel here.
This week’s #woodfiredweekly
Woodfired Fish en Papillote (Spanish version) – Ingredients per person
1 small piece of cod or hake fillet – about 150g
Bed of vegetables cut into super-fine strips (1/2 red pepper, 1/2 small onion, 1 stick celery)
3 slices lemon
1/2 tsp each smoked paprika and ground cumin
Olive Oil
Sherry
Salt & pepper
Woodfired Fish en Papillote (Italian version) – Ingredients per person
1 small piece of salmon fillet – about 150g
Bed of vegetables cut into thin strips (1 leek, 1 small carrot) plus a small handful of green beans
3 slices lemon
Few basil leaves
Olive oil
Salt & pepper
Woodfired Fish en Papillote (Asian version) – Ingredients per person
1 whole small sea bream, cleaned, scaled & gutted
Bed of vegetables cut into thin strips (1/2 red pepper, 1 inch fresh ginger, 1 clove garlic)
5 slices lime
Splash of fish sauce & soy sauce
Woodfired Fish en Papillote – Oven state, equipment etc
1 Mississippi at back
Heat deflector to keep the embers in one place and lift the heat over the top of the oven
Baking sheet
Woodfired Fish en Papillote – Method
1. Put a small square of baking parchment inside one of aluminium foil. You will need one of these parcels for each fish.
2. Place the vegetables on the parchment and for the Spanish recipe sprinkle with paprika and cumin.
3. Place the fish on top of the bed of vegetables, pop the lemon or lime slices on the fish and then add a splash of olive oil plus any other ingredients listed. For the Asian version you can also stuff some of the vegetables inside the fish too.
4. Wrap up each parcel making sure it’s not too tight as you want steam to circulate around the fish, and pop into the oven on the baking sheet.
5. The cod recipe will take around 8 minutes, the salmon 10-12 minutes and the sea bream about 15 minutes.
6. Serve immediately giving each person a parcel to unwrap themselves.
Woodfired Fish en Papillote – Alternatives
These recipes are just a guide – feel free to experiment with different kinds of fish and vegetables. How about –
- halibut with asparagus, cherry tomatoes and fresh herbs
- tuna with olives, tomatoes. capers & garlic
- prawns with bok choy spring onions and noodles