ALASKA HALIBUT “EN PAPILLOTE”
RECIPE: Alaska Halibut “en Papillote”
This piscine packet of pleasure roasts Alaskan halibut over a bed of bitter greens which become like steamed spinach but with a kicker of more flavor and texture. Makes 1, serves 2, easily multiplied.
Ingredients
2 small, clean paper bags
1 piece of Alaskan halibut, 3/4 to 1 pound, skin-on
Salt and pepper
2-3 large handfuls Asian or bitter greens (such as brassica greens)
2-3 very thin slices lemon
1 sprig fresh thyme
2 small pats butter
Directions
Heat the oven to 400 degrees and have at the ready a baking sheet to fit however many papillotes you prepare.
For each papillote, lightly and partially oil the 2 bags by rubbing (or spraying) the sides with a bit of vegetable or mild olive oil, then place 1 bag inside the other. Place the handfuls of greens inside the inner bag, patting it down on the wider side. Salt and pepper the fish and place it skin-side down over the greens.
Slide the lemon slices, the thyme sprig, and the butter pats over the fish and seal the bags, folding them together at the opening 2 or 3 times, crimping the crease tightly and seal with oven proof metal paper clips or metal staples.
Place the bag, wider side down, on the rimmed baking sheet and roast for 15 minutes, a bit more if the halibut is thicker than 1 inch. Open carefully to avoid being burnt by the heady steam within. Serve as an open packet.
Wine Pairings and why: Significant numbers of people enjoy red wine with fish, beyond the annual pairing of Rosh Hashanah’s gefilte fish with Manischewitz. Red wines carry more tannin than do whites, an element that scours fish oil from the palate. White wine’s more assertive acidity can do the same, although often less successfully. But like the compliments that do or do not flow over Ma Cohen’s gefilte fish dumplings, it depends on the fish: how oily it is or what accompanies it. This halibut dish, especially due to the added butter and the stout greens is delicious with a slightly chilled, light bodied red such as an Arbois Rouge, many a Chianti from Tuscany or several lighter-bodied Red Blends.