Tapas for Lunch!
We received a bottle of ‘organic red wine’ from a friend of ours and hubby wanted to sample it for lunch so…
Me: Sure! You know what would go great with that?
Hubby: What?
Me: Tapas!
Hubby: I’ll get the olives then!
Making Spanish tapas was also a great way to use our home meat slicer, which has been in sitting in our bij keuken (side kitchen) for a few months now.
Hubby slicing the serrano salami.
Now, isn’t this a yummy, gorgeous plate?!? We had wholewheat brown French bread, manchego cheese, iberico ham, serrano salami and black and green olives. Together with the organic red wine, lunch was heavenly indeed!
Salmon en Papillote
I almost hoarded on salmon fillets the other day :) Hubby and I went grocery shopping and came across the most gorgeous salmon fillets – fresh, vibrant orange color, yum! And they were on sale for just that day too so you can imagine how I so wanted to grab at least 10 packs to bring home. LOL.
But alas! hubby, ever the voice of reason, gently reminded me that they will not fit our already bursting freezer so I settled to just getting a few packs (wink*wink*).
What is to cook something ‘en papillote’?
The term en papillote is French for placing food in a folded pouch and then cooking it by means of baking. Parchment paper or aluminum foil may be used for this purpose and it’s important to ensure that there’s enough space inside the parcel as the purpose is to cook the food via its own steam (or via the aid of some liquid such as stock or wine).
This recipe is soooo easy and soooo delish, you really must try it when you come across some great salmon fillets too!
Ingredients:
500 grams salmon fillet
1 yellow bell pepper
1 stalk spring onion
1 tsp freshly grated ginger
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp liquid seasoning (optional)
25-50 grams butter
sea salt
freshly-ground pepper
Procedure:
- Cut out a piece of parchment paper (or aluminum foil) that will surely fit the size of the salmon… and then some. Remember that you need to fold the sides of the paper and that there should be enough room left inside so that the salmon gets cooked in its own steam so make sure you cut out enough paper.
- Heat the oven to 200 C.
- Thinly julienne the yellow bell pepper and place this in the middle of the parchment paper.
- Place the salmon fillet on top of the bell pepper and season with salt and pepper.
- Wash and dry an orange and grate the skin to get fresh orange zest. (Be careful not to grate the white pith that covers the fruit as that part is bitter.) I just do this directly above the salmon.
- Top the salmon with the rest of the ingredients, ending with the dabs of butter.
- Fold the parchment paper. There should be space inside the parcel, but it should be folded tightly so that no liquid or steam escapes while baking.
- Bake the salmon for 15-20 minutes.
Enjoy! I served this dish on top of some red rice :)
