Halibut Packets with Asian Flavor

If you have parchment paper instead of foil, you can get fancy and call these “Les Flétan en Papillote à la Mode d'Asie.” Use any meaty fish in this recipe. Of course, you’d then have to change the fancy French title to correspond with the fish that you choose.

3 ¼ - ⅓ lb halibut steaks

3 pieces of foil or parchment paper, approximately double the size of the fish steaks, sprayed with non-stick spray

2 thinly-sliced scallions, or ½ cup thinly-sliced onion

3 thinly-sliced garlic cloves

9 – 12 thin slices fresh ginger

1 cup grated carrot (I grated the carrot on a microplane so it dissolved into the sauce)

1 ½ tablespoons soy sauce

3 sprigs of fresh flat-leaf parsley or cilantro

Red pepper flake or a few thin slices of jalapeño, if you want some kick. Keep in mind that the ginger does bring some heat of its own.

Bacon fat and/or sesame oil

Salt

Black pepper

Preheat oven to 350°

Season the fish with salt and pepper and place each on a piece of foil. Be stingy with the salt, since you will also be using soy sauce in this recipe. It’s helpful to make the foil into a cup or bowl shape so that when you add the soy, it won’t flow onto your counter. Combine scallions or onions, pepper or jalapeño, garlic, ginger, and carrot. Divide the veg evenly on top of the pieces of fish. Add a sprig of parsley or cilantro to each packet. Divide the soy sauce evenly into each packet. Season again with a tiny bit of salt and as much black pepper as you’d like. Anoint each with a few drops of sesame oil or a raindrop-sized bit of bacon fat.

Loosely seal each packet. They need to be tight enough to contain the liquid that is in them now and that which will be produced during cooking. However, they should be loose enough to let some steam escape; otherwise, you will have a mess on your hands (or, more precisely, in your oven.) Place the packets on a baking sheet for easy handling.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until the fish is moist, yet flaky. It will not ruin the dish if you peek into a packet and check for doneness, then decide let it cook longer.

Be sure to eat rice along with this. It soaks up the yummy sauce that develops in each packet. I devoured a few heads of soy and ginger braised baby bok choy as another side. In fact, you could probably put a few leaves of baby bok choy in each packet and increase the cooking time by 5 minutes or so.