Despite a bit of butter, this recipe of mine is what Nigella Lawson refers to as "Temple Food" - soothing, healthy, easy on the digestive system but still tasty. I also liked it because, though I definitely used fall vegetables, the colors were soft and springlike, a nice visual antidote for a really grey winter weather day.
Last but not least, this is a microwave dish (which I always like) - quick to cook and no clean-up. And really, this easy dish would work with any combination of fish and vegetables, no matter what the season.
4 6-8 oz fillets of cod
6 cups assorted seasonal vegetables (I used a mixture of 3 cups of quartered Brussels sprouts, 1 cup of halved baby turnips and 2 cups of thinly sliced green chard)
2 Tbsps butter, cut into small cubes
1 Tbsp dashi powder (available in Asian specialty groceries)
4 sprigs of rosemary or seasonal herb to suit your vegetables
Juice from a lemon
Salt
Place your quartered Brussels sprouts in a microwave safe dish, covered with water. Microwave for 3 minutes.
Add your baby turnip halves, stir to combine, and microwave for an additional 2 minutes. As soon as the 2 minutes are up, remove the vegetables from the microwave, drain and salt.
While the vegetables are cooking, prepare your parchment parcels. Cut 4 pieces of parchment large enough to contain your fish and vegetables (with enough excess to fold or crimp when closing the paper to allow the ingredients to steam).
Place a quarter of the chard in the center of each piece of parchment. Top with a quarter of the microwaved vegetable mixture and dot that with a quarter of the cubed butter.
Roll each cod fillet in a quarter of the dashi powder and place on top of the vegetables. Top with a sprig of rosemary and fold the paper up so that it tightly encloses the fish and vegetables and no steam will be able to escape.
Microwave for 3 minutes for 6 oz fillets and 3 minutes and 30 seconds for 8 oz fillets. This works in my microwave on high. Your settings might work differently so I suggest that you microwave your fish for 3 minutes, open the package gingerly to check, and then add more time if needed.
Open each package carefully to avoid burning yourself and squeeze some lemon juice over the top of the fish. Serve as is (as illustrated above), or remove the fish from the parchment paper and spoon the buttery fish juices contained in each papillote over each fillet before serving.
This recipe also works with halibut, or any firm fleshed white fish of your choice.
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