Cooking en Papillote

            I know what your thinking - Cooking en Papillote sounds difficult. In fact it is quit the opposite, cooking en papillote simply means to wrap food in parchment paper and cook briefly. This can be turned into a dinner preparation that the whole family can participate in and even customize their own dish.

            A serving sized portion of food is placed inside a "bag" of parchment paper and then cooked in its own juices. It's almost like an oven steaming technique. This method produces food that is very moist and surrounded in its own natural sweetness. This cooking method is also fast and healthful. Food cooks in about 15 minutes and requires little or no added fat. It is also a fun dinner to prepare because each bag will poof up and look like a fat pillow during the cooking. Bags can then be placed on a plate and food eaten directly out of the bag. In turn this cooking method provides minimum clean up for a fun and delicious meal. The how to of papillote can be hard to explain. Pictures work much better to explain the method. The Food Network provides the following on their website.

First choose a piece of parchment paper, about 14- x 18-inch. Fold it in half and use scissors to cut it into a heart-like shape.



Lay the parchment open, and brush it lightly with butter or oil.





Position your food in the center of one of the sides of the heart. Fold the other half of the paper over, and starting at the V of the paper, fold about an inch back to make a very tight narrow fold. Continue to make tight, triangular shaped folds along the edge of the paper, about ever 3/4 inch. Run your thumb over each fold, to make sure that the edges are tightly sealed. Continue folding over the edges, around the heart until you come to the tip of the heart. Twist off the ends of the paper to seal if off.

Bake right away or refrigerate until ready to cook.