This recipe is an opportunity to have ZERO pans to clean up! Get that roll of Parchment Paper out of the drawer, and lets make some Cod en Papillote!
What is this ‘en Papillote’ I speak of? Just the fancy French way of saying, ‘baked in a parchment paper packet’. The packet actually steams the food in the oven, which keeps your food juicy and allows all of the flavors to blend together – makes for yummy sauce! Which also = no pans to clean up! Just toss the packet in the trash!
I love using this cooking method, you can really put anything in the pouch – usually some combo of protein and veggies. I used Cod here, but Halibut, Tilapia or Salmon would be equally delicious.
Here are some tips for making a proper packet – use a piece of Parchment paper approximately 24″ long. Fold it in half on the short side. Open to place your ingredients in the packet, in the center close to the fold. When all ingredients are enclosed, fold top flap over and start at top side of the fold, making small folds around the food, in the shape of a semi-circle. See video below. When you get to the end, fold the last fold under to ‘seal’ the packet.
Lemon Zucchini Parchment Baked Cod
Buttery Cod baked in parchment with zucchini, lemon, tomatoes & olives make for a quick, healthy meal with virtually no clean up!
Ingredients
- 2 cod fillets (4-5 oz. each)
- 1 zucchini - sliced in 1/4 in. disks
- 1 bunch of green onions - cleaned & thinly sliced (green & white parts)
- 8 cherry tomatoes - halved
- 6 kalamata olives - halved
- 1 lemon - sliced
- 1 TBSP butter - cubed
- Salt/pepper to taste
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat oven to 400 degrees – rinse & pat dry cod fillets -season with salt & pepper and set aside
- Step 2 Prepare 2 pieces of parchment paper, approx. 24″ long and folded in half
- Step 3 Place 1/2 of sliced green onions in center of each parchment packet – closest to the fold
- Step 4 Follow with 1/2 of zucchini slices, and 1/2 cherry tomatoes – top vegetables with a cod fillet, and add 1/2 of kalamata olives and 3 lemon slices to the top of each. Finally, add 1/2 of cubed butter to top of each.
- Step 5 Seal the packets by folding top flap over cod and folding top & bottom pieces together, all the way around fish – fold ends under.
- Step 6 Place packets on baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Packets will be puffed up and slightly brown.
- Step 7 Serve each packet on a plate and snip top with scissors to let steam escape, or carefully unfold one end and slide contents onto plate.
