Whiting (Fish) en Papillote

From my cooking class in France, I learned that"en papillote" (in parchment) is the best way to cook fish, as every single drop of juice is sealed in a little packet made of parchment (hence the name) or aluminium foil (modern adaption). The New York Times has an excellent article on this technique if you are interested.


Wild caught whitings were on sale at the grocery store, so I grabbed a 2 lbs bag, and ended up with 8 fillets. As a member of to the cod family, whiting meat is delicately tender and flaky. And when it came to bring the fish to our dinner table, it's essentially a no-brainer.

Here is what I did. First, I cooked up some white beans. Just simple soaking and boiling in water, with some sea salt added. Then it was just a matter of assembly. Starting with some fresh ginger shreds, chopped garlic cloves, a sprig of scallion, a cup of white beans, and finally the fish. I started with the skin side down. Sprinkle with some salt and pepper, and a dash of lemon juice.

I have to omit that due to laziness (it was the game night so I had lots of things to cook), I just directly used a frozen fillet, which turned out surprisingly well. To prevent over cook, and also to defrost, I used 350F instead of the regular 425F, and cooked it with foil completely closed, for 20 minutes. During that time,
I sliced up some zucchini, some summer squash, and some carrots. All of those were added to the packet when I flipped the fish, and the packet was returned to the oven closed,  for another 15 minutes. I also picked two leaves from our basil plant, which was added when I opened the packet to bake for another 5 minutes, just to add a bit color to the fish skin.

What I like about this dish is it's high in protein (36 grams), and low in calories (about 415 Calories/dish). The ingredient cost about 3 dollars for the whole dish! And best part, it was so simple yet delicious!