Hectic days do not make me want to spend hours in the kitchen. In fact, these are the days where we are more prone to just go out and eat. What keeps us home most of the time, are our goals to eat healthy and save money. Fish? Well, that’s a great idea, but how do you shop for the right fish? What about mercury?
To keep us all on-track, here’s a simple fish recipe, using minimal ingredients and only requires 15 minutes in the oven. Plus, it’s something you can prepare ahead of time. Kind of impressive, if you ask us!
How to Cook Fish in Parchment Pouches
Ingredients
1 4 oz. piece of fish (salmon, cod, or halibut work great)
2 large bok choy stems and leaves
½ portobello mushroom
1 teaspoon ginger, grated
1 teaspoon tamari (or soy sauce)
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 tablespoon cilantro, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon green onion, thinly sliced
Pinch of chili pepper flakes (optional)
Parchment paper
Steps
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Prepare the bok choy by cutting the leaves from the stem and thinly chopping the stem. (The leaves will be the base of our baking pocket.)
- Take a large piece of parchment paper (about 20” long) and fold it in half. Using a pair of scissors, cut out a heart shape with the flat edge as the folded side.
- Open the heart parchment pocket, and layer the bok choy leaves first. Add the thinly sliced bok choy stems and mushrooms.
- Sprinkle ½ of the grated ginger, ½ of the tamari (or soy sauce), ½ of the sesame oil, and a small pinch of chili pepper flakes over the mushrooms.
- Add the piece of fish and top with the remaining ginger, tamari, sesame oil, and chili pepper flakes.
- Top with cilantro and green onions.
- Fold the top parchment paper flap over the stacked veggies and fish. From the top corner, fold the edge over and crease with your fingernail. Continue to fold and crease all the way around until you have a sealed pocket.
- Bake for 15 minutes on a rimmed cookie sheet (to catch any juices). Once the pocket is done cooking, place on a plate and cut an “x” on the top to serve.
Serves 1
NOTE: Spin this asian-inspired healthy recipe into any ethnic dish by swapping out the bok choy, tamari, ginger, and sesame oil. For example, you can use tomatoes, green beans and squash with lemon juice, white wine and olive oil for a mediterranean fish pocket instead.
More on fish…
Kale. All Day. Err Day.
This looks amazing! I am planning to make this for Valentine’s day (tomorrow!). You mention it can be prepared ahead of time, is it possible to prepare/assemble everything in the parchment pocket 1 day in advance? Or just chop up the ingredients in advance? Also, is there a side dish that you would recommend for this dish? Thank you!!
Hi ck — shoots we totally missed this! How was your V-day? Here’s what we’ve done, prepped everything (parchment pockets and all) the night before, then popped it in the oven when we got home from work. It turned out great. Not sure if I’d recommend preparing it any longer than a day ahead of time, especially because of the fish. My only caution is the smell in the fridge if you prep too far ahead of time. Any who…did you make it? How was it? Any changes you’d make?