Spring is coming! This is the perfect recipe for a lighter, easier meal. Steaming fish in parchment locks in the moisture and concentrates the flavours. Also, you literally cannot ruin your fish, which is good because you also cannot check for doneness. Err on the side of cooking it 5 minutes longer than you may think… the steam will keep it moist.

Feel free to play around with the flavours. In this recipe the flavours are Asian-inspired but you can skip the ginger, sesame and soy and replace it with olive oil, shallots and tomatoes and you’ve got a whole new fish!

I like to serve this with rice or cauliflower rice because the steaming makes for a delicious gravy.

Enjoy, my friends, and please let me know how you like it!

Parchment Steamed Fish with Ginger, Scallions and Greens

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Servings 2

Equipment

2 20-inch sheet of parchment paper
A stapler

Ingredients

1-2 fish fillets fillets (between 8-12 ounces total) — such as Arctic Char Mediterranean sea bass (orrata/spigola/branzino), halibut
A few big handfuls of spinach or another quick cooking greens
½ tsp. fine grain sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 Tbs. of sesame oil, avocado oil or olive oil, separated
2 Tbs. low sodium soy sauce, tamari or coconut aminos
1-2 bok choy, sliced lengthwise in a few pieces 4 shitake mushrooms, caps only, sliced thinly
1 long red chili, top and seeds removed, sliced thinly or use a pinch of dried chili flakes
2 green onion, sliced into 2-3 segments and then sliced lengthwise thinly
1-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and sliced into thin matchsticks

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400˚F.
On the work surface, both sheets of parchment paper lengthwise. You will make 2 packages with 1 fish fillets in each and half the veggies in each.
Using the lower half of the parchment paper, lay down the spinach (this will be the “bed” for the fish). Drizzle the greens with a little oil and soy sauce, tamari or coconut aminos.
Lay the fish fillets on top of the spinach.
Drizzle a small amount of the oil on the fish and season with salt and pepper.
Distribute the sliced bok choy, sliced mushrooms, red chili , green onion and ginger slices evenly on top of the fish. Drizzle the contents of the package with the oil and coconut aminos, sprinkle with a little more salt and pepper.
Fold the upper half of the parchment paper over the vegetable/fish mound (you should leave enough space around the food to allow the air to expand and circulate). Starting from one corner, make a fold in the parchment, continuing along the half moon with overlapping folds. Make very tight, closely overlapping little folds starting from one corner and work your way around, towards the opposite corner. Fold the last fold over it self and staple the last fold to itself and then staple a few of the folds along the parchment paper.
Place the packages on a cookie sheet and bake for 20-30 minutes.
Cut the packages open and either slide the contents onto a plate or serve directly from the open parchment (you can cut away the top flap and staples).