{"id":1725,"date":"2013-09-22T18:21:55","date_gmt":"2013-09-22T22:21:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/food.hoggardwagner.com\/?p=1725"},"modified":"2013-09-22T18:21:55","modified_gmt":"2013-09-22T22:21:55","slug":"redfish-fillets-en-papillote-summer-squash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/food.hoggardwagner.org\/?p=1725","title":{"rendered":"redfish fillets en papillote, summer squash"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

presentation<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I’ve really neglected this blog for some time, having been seduced by the ease and speed of Twitter<\/a>, but sometimes 140 characters are more inadequate than usual for describing a really good meal (or almost anything else for that matter).<\/p>\n

On Friday I came back from the Union Square Greenmarket with what the Pura Vida<\/a> stand described as Redfish fillets. \u00a0They had stood out from the rest of the huge iced selection because they were not something I had cooked recently (actually, I’d not cooked them ever), because they looked beautiful, and \u00a0because the price was more than reasonable (I paid a little over $10 for two filets of about 6 ounces each). \u00a0Not familiar with the name (and fish names are notoriously imprecise), I asked what Redfish might be compared to. \u00a0I was told Red Snapper would be a fair equivalent, and that they were a mild-tasting fish.<\/p>\n

Back home I went through my files of notes and recipe cutouts and eventually opened up Mark Bittman’s “Fish<\/a>“. \u00a0One of his suggestions, “Red Snapper Fillets En Papillote<\/a>“, almost jumped off the page. \u00a0It was fairly simple and uncomplicated, and I had all of the ingredients, fresh (all from the Greenmarket) and otherwise, already in the kitchen. \u00a0 Bittman offered it as a basic recipe, to which he provided five variations. \u00a0I may find one or more of them useful another time, but I was amused by his suggestion, “Its sometimes interesting to make several different combinations at the same meal, so each serving is a surprise”. \u00a0There were only two of us for dinner, and it was still summer, so I absolutely had to go with the basic recipe, which allowed me to use more of the luscious heirloom tomatoes I had bought from Berried Treasures<\/a> that day.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The procedure involved placing each fillet on a piece of parchment (large enough to enclose it once the other ingredients were added), then layering them with thin red potato slices (from Keith’s Farm<\/a>) and thicker slices of red and \u00a0yellow tomato, sprinkling them with salt & pepper and shredded basil (from Stokes Farm<\/a>), then drizzling them with oil. \u00a0The sealed packages were placed in a pan and baked at 450\u02da for about 20 minutes (I think I removed it when I smelled the aromas) .<\/p>\n

I had also picked up a few beautiful small zucchini and yellow squash from Sycamore Farms<\/a> at the Greenmarket that day. \u00a0Thinking that my paper-wrapped entr\u00e9e might not be quite enough for a meal without a first course, I started thinking about what I might do with them as a side dish. \u00a0 In a hurry for ideas, I went to the internet and \u00a0quickly came up with a 1997 recipe from Gourmet magazine, “Grilled Zucchini With Black Olives And Mint<\/a>“. \u00a0 Great! \u00a0I had the Kalamata olives, some lemon, and a bunch of mint bought from Franca at Berried Treasures<\/a> in the Greenmarket that day. \u00a0I pan-grilled diagonal slices of both the yellow and green squash, for color, before baking the fish packages, and kept them warm in a bowl on top of the oven (which is, handily, next to the burners on my 1931 Magic Chef<\/a>.<\/p>\n

We drank a bottle of Bourgogne Aligot\u00e9<\/a>, which I believe we had purchased at Pasanella<\/a>. \u00a0Terrific.<\/p>\n

It was one of those meals where everything comes together perfectly. \u00a0It was totally delicious, with everything complimenting everything else. \u00a0 And it was all so easy. \u00a0As the cook I also appreciated that I had nothing to do for twenty minutes after placing the entr\u00e9e in the oven except sip on a Martini and nibble a few thin breadsticks. \u00a0I’m now totally sold on the en Papillote thing, for the rest period it affords, for everything being cooked \u00e1 point, for the flavors having ended both blended and subtly distinguishable, and for the fact that everything was wickedly juicy. \u00a0I was also surprised that the seasoning needed no adjustment whatsoever.<\/p>\n

Also, to tell the truth, I thought the meal\u00a0looked<\/em>\u00a0awesome, no small matter for me.<\/p>\n

Two more bonuses of the en papillotte technique: \u00a0 First, it was amazing to find that while we were enjoying the fish at a very leisurely pace, it stayed warm throughout (not an easy thing to arrange when cooking fish). Second, the parchment-wrapped fish with its vegetables completed (in fact, more than dominated) the plate all by itself (I served the squash on a side plate), and so gave the impression of a much more luxurious portion than it was, although we did not feel the least bit deprived.<\/p>\n

Finally, I only thought about it when I began to consider this post, but it was definitely satisfying to realize that the ingredients for the entire meal were pretty inexpensive. \u00a0Of course, as always, there’s real economy (of \u00a0both cost and time) in cooking regularly.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

remains<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

presentation   I’ve really neglected this blog for some time, having been seduced by the ease and speed of Twitter, but sometimes 140 characters are more inadequate than usual for describing a really good meal (or almost anything else for that matter). On Friday I came back from the Union Square Greenmarket with what the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[118,310],"class_list":["post-1725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-meals-at-home","tag-en-papillote","tag-redfish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/food.hoggardwagner.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/food.hoggardwagner.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/food.hoggardwagner.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/food.hoggardwagner.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/food.hoggardwagner.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1725"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/food.hoggardwagner.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1725\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/food.hoggardwagner.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/food.hoggardwagner.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/food.hoggardwagner.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}