Salmon En Papillote

Salmon En Papillote, or Salmon in parchment paper, is the easiest and best tasting weeknight meal. And, it’s an easy clean up night too. This method of steaming the salmon in parchment paper creates a juicy and flaky piece of fish.

This meal is easy to assemble and makes such a statement when you serve it still in the parchment paper. You place all your ingredients on a sheet of parchment paper, roll it up, bake it and serve it. It’s that easy! There are a few tricks to this, but it’s not too tricky.

First, do your Mise En Place, which means everything in its place – meaning do all your prep work first. Chop and cut everything first and have it in front of you like an assembly line. Then, after you cut off a piece of parchment paper (about 16 inches or so), place it on your surface face down so it doesn’t roll up on you. You’ll want to place all your ingredients 1/3 way down and center of the parchment paper – start with your veggies, then salmon, salt, pepper, spice, fresh herbs, shallot, liquid, and lemon slices. You’ll want to do it in this order so when you serve it in the paper it looks absolutely beautiful. Another trick is to roll it up twice to create a fail-safe edge that will keep the liquid and steam in the bag. To seal it you fold one corner over and up, and repeat. Making large folds and then go back and fold the edge again in half. I’ll show you want I did below. You will end with the right bottom corner, with a little overhang. Fold the extra overhang under the corner.

For the asparagus, hold it at both ends and bend it until the bottom white snaps off. Asparagus tells you exactly where the inedible part starts, however don’t throw them away. Freeze them and use them later for stock. Lastly, make extra. It’s so good you’ll want some for lunch the next day. It heats up fast in an oven or microwave, and it will still be juicy and flakey.

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 15-20 minutes

Total time: 25-30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 4 pieces of salmon (one per person)
• Bundle of fresh asparagus
• Fresh herbs (I use chives and lemon thyme)
• Shallot
• Tablespoon of garlic powder
• Tablespoon of salt
• Tablespoon of pepper
• Tablespoon of white wine (optional – if use, use one you like to drink)
• Parchment Paper
• Baking sheet

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400
2. Dice the shallot into a fine dice and place in a bowl
3. Dice up the herbs and place in a bowl
4. Mix together in another bowl the garlic powder, salt and pepper
5. Zest a lemon (add zest to the herbs or shallots) and juice the lemon in another bowl (add a tablespoon of white wine if you want)
6. Slice up another lemon and set aside
7. Hold one of the asparagus at each end and bend it until the bottom white part snaps off
8. Place that piece of asparagus next to the rest and cut the rest at the same place it snapped off
9. Or you can repeat #7 for any small stems
10. Tear off 4 (16 inch or so) pieces of parchment paper and set aside
11. Place one piece of parchment paper facing down (so it doesn’t roll up)
12. Place 1/4 of the asparagus 1/3 of the way down and center of the parchment paper
13. The place the salmon on top of that
14. Sprinkle the salmon with a tablespoon of the garlic powder, salt and pepper mix
15. Sprinkle the salmon with a tablespoon of the herbs and the shallots
16. Gently and slowly pour a tablespoon of the lemon juice over the salmon
17. Top the salmon with 3 slices of lemon
18. Fold the parchment paper up into half
19. Start on the left bottom corner and make a big fold over and up (leave some room for the salmon to steam)
20. Then take the next inch of the paper and fold that over the previous fold
21. Repeat #20 until it’s all sealed
22. Go back to the beginning corner and repeat the folding process by folding the edge in half
23. End with the right bottom corner, with a little overhang. Fold the extra overhang under the corner.
24. Place the Salmon in parchment paper onto a baking sheet
25. Repeat for each piece of salmon
26. Bake 15 to 17 minutes (it should be 145 degrees temperature in the middle)
27. Serve it in the bag on a plate. Your guest can open the pouch by cutting a slit in the middle (over the salmon) and peal back the parchment paper to reveal the salmon.

I really hope you enjoy this recipe. If you make it, please leave a comment below. And, if you want to be notified when more recipes are posted, enter your email address below.

Happy cooking!