Six Months in a Sautoir: En Papillote

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Six Months in a Sautoir: En Papillote

A perfect aromatic bundle of vegetables, wine, and herbs. Open and enjoy.

I was recalling one of my favorite dishes from culinary school a few days ago—Sea Bass en Papillote. En Papillote, basically translated to cooked in parchment paper, is a technique where a meat or fish is packaged into parchment paper along with whatever else your heart desires and baked in the oven under high heat. What results from this is a steam-tight vessel that browns the outside of the parchment while steaming the contents on the inside perfectly…think wontons or empanadas without the edible container. With a recipe like Sea Bass en Papillote, the bass cooks to a wonderfully flaky texture while absorbing all the flavors wrapped up inside.

It’s like a gift. It should be presented table-side for the waiter or patron to open. They stick their nose over the top and take in all the great smells exuding from the cut. I had never experienced this before culinary school. I still remember the slice I took in month three of my program, taking my paring knife and carefully splitting open the burnished parchment like a doctor performing open heart surgery; the smell knocked me back like a smack to the face. Tomato, mushroom, white wine, leeks, celery, carrot, thyme, and of course the sea bass—they worked so harmoniously together. I could have never imagined everything would work so faultlessly.

The dish is a true labor of love with many steps to complete, but if you’re in the mood for an amazing surprise, try out the recipe! (Yes, there will be some recipes on this blog)

The basic construction of Sea Bass en Papillote goes like this: Parchment paper, mushroom duxelles, tomato fondue, sea bass fillet (5-6 oz, skinless), carrot, celery, and leek, all cut in julienne, then a sprig of thyme and a splash of white wine. The addition and method of cooking all these ingredients is necessary to pull off this dish.

Tomato Fondue (2 servings)

-        5 vine-ripe tomatoes, concasser

-        1 shallot, ciseler

-        Tomato Paste, optional

-        Olive Oil

-        Butter

-        Thyme

-        Bay leaf

-        Salt and Pepper

Concasser is a technique with tomatoes that is French kitchen slang for blanching, shocking, peeling, removing the seeds, and chopping. It’s a great verbal shortcut instead of saying everything I just listed. You’ll want to start with a big pot of boiling water. Remove the core of the tomato and slice to bottom with a shallow ‘X’. 

Photo via http://culinaryarts.about.com

Pop the tomatoes in the boiling water for 10-15 seconds… if the tomatoes are thick-skinned, they can go for 30 seconds. Once finished, remove them to a bowl filled with ice water—this is called shocking and will halt the cooking process of the tomatoes. What you want here is to keep the tomatoes raw while making the outer skin of the tomatoes soft enough to peel easily. Once cool, take a paring knife or your hands and peel the tomatoes. At this step, cut your tomato along the hemisphere (not from top to bottom, side to side) and squeeze over a garbage bowl—this will remove the seeds. Chop your tomatoes finely and set aside.

Cut your shallots ciseler (that’s a fine dice) and sweat in a little olive oil and butter until translucent… about 5 minutes on medium heat should do. Add a sprig of thyme, a bay leaf, and your tomatoes. Stir to combine, drop to low heat, and cover partially with the pot lid. You’re looking for the water from the tomato to evaporate and the tomatoes to be soft. This will take about 30 minutes, but keep an eye on it. Once the water is evaporated, this will have a tendency to burn. Season with salt and pepper, take out the thyme and bay, and set aside. This can be done days ahead of time and set in the fridge. It makes a great tomato sauce too!

Photo via http://www.onehungrychef.com

I'll double back for a quick interlude on how to ciseler an onion. It's a technique everyone should know, and who better to teach everyone reading than the Chef who taught me, Chef Rogers Powell. Check out his great Youtube channel and subscribe to his blog on my sidebar!

Mushroom Duxelles (pronounced like duck-sell) (2 Servings)

-       1 container of crimini mushrooms, peeled and diced

-       1 shallot, ciseler

-       Olive oil

-       Butter

-       White wine vinegar or lemon

-       Salt and pepper

This is a very similar method of cooking to the tomato fondue, in fact, when I’m making one of these, I’m usually making the other. Take a container of crimini mushrooms, break the stem off, and peel the brown skin. Why not just use the white button mushrooms? Those have a skin as well—it’s just harder to see in my opinion. 

Photo via http://veganyumyum.com

Once peeled, finely dice the mushrooms. You can use a food processor for this, but you don’t want the mushrooms too fine. The finished product is something like a coarse rock salt consistency. Cisiler your shallot like you did for your tomato fondue and sweat the exact same way as above… see why these usually work hand in hand? They start the exact same way!

Once the shallots are clear and translucent, add your mushrooms and either a splash of white wine vinegar or a squeeze of lemon juice. I tend to use white wine vinegar because of how it works with the woody taste of mushrooms. Again, cover slightly with the pot lid and let it go on low heat for around 30 minutes. This one will definitely have a tendency to burn if it’s forgotten about. Season and set aside. This one actually works well with freezing too, so you can make a bunch!

Photo via http://www.mrs-delicious.com

Cooking a l'anglaise

Now come the aromatic vegetables: A julienne cut is a long stick measuring 3mm by 3mm by 2-3 inches (about the length of your index finger) You can grab your mandolin for this and make a perfect julienne of carrots, celery, and leek, or you can practice your knife skills! Here’s the best video I could find for this technique online, again by Chef Rogers:

You’ll want to do about 1 leek (15 leaves), 2 carrots, and 2 branches of celery. The best way to julienne a leek is to chop off the overly green woody part, take the best 2 inches of the white/light green, and cut the thing in half. Peel the separate leaves apart and use that as the thickness of your julienne—super easy! The celery is also very easy with a little technique; take the heel of your chef knife and press down on the 2-3 inch long sticks, flattening the celery. Now cut through like a normal julienne. See?

You’ll want to cook your vegetables a little bit before addition to the dish. This cooking method is called a l'anglaise which basically means cooking in a lot of salted water. I always thought this was a shot at English cooking by the French, a l'anglaise basically meaning 'In an English Manner' otherwise known as Bland. You’ll want a large pot of boiling water that tastes like sea salt for this process. Why a large pot? Too small and the pot will lose its heat quickly, adding time and causing the vegetable to cook unevenly. Here’s a few tips for cooking a l'anglaise: Cook your vegetables separately. Cook your carrots, then your celery, then your leek… you don’t want to be sifting through each of them separating later. It would also be a good idea to cook them in a strainer or something easily removed from the water when finished. Once they’re cooked, shock them to stop the cooking. You’re looking for a slightly soft texture kind of like half-cooked pasta—the vegetable will cook more in the oven.

Combining all the Elements

Now is when you should figure out how you want to present your dish. Here are a couple of appealing options:

Option one: Parchment ‘Heart’

Photo via http://www.bonappetit.com

Option two: Parchment ‘Bundle’

Photo via http://frompattyspantry.com

Your goal here, no matter which option you choose, is to assure an air-tight seal between the seams of the parchment. The best way to do this is use a little egg white as glue between the layers. Brush on your egg white, press the edges to seal, and then crimp the outsides of the papillote and set aside. How do we assemble what’s inside the parchment? Here’s the best way I’ve found, and the way FCI chefs are taught:

Layer one: Fondue next to Duxelles as a support for the fish

Layer two: Fish (5-6oz) skin off

Layer three: Aromatic vegetables, side by side

Layer four: Thyme and a splash of white wine

Once you’ve assembled your papillote, brush the outside with a little oil and it’s time to bake. Get a screaming hot oven, 450 degrees F, and cook the papillote for 7-8 minutes. This time really depends on the thickness of the fish you’re using and how hot your oven is. A word of advice is to preheat your oven and make sure it’s 450 degrees F before you put your fish in. Every time you open your oven, you’ll lose about 50 degrees, adding to cooking time and leading to an under cooked piece of fish. It’s tough to tell how your fish is cooked because it’s wrapped up—you don’t want to open it to check. Shoot for the 8 minutes if your fish is a little thick and don’t open that oven!

Photo via http://saltyapron.com

What should you look for from this dish? Your tomato fondue should be even, soft but not wet, and seasoned correctly. Same with your mushroom duxelles—the mushrooms should be soft, even, and not wet. The vegetables should look even and pretty on top of the fish and should be soft to eat. The bundle should be browned and crispy on the outside and the whole thing should spring the most heavenly smell upon opening. This was a recipe I just absolutely had to share with everyone that reads this blog—make this and it will become an instant favorite for life!

- Adam from Tipped Mixology