Salmon and Tomatoes en Papillote

One by-product of habitual cooking from new recipes is a certain confidence in the ability to predict in advance, from a quick perusal, how the recipe will taste. Granted there are times when unusual ingredients are paired together and the only solution is to prepare the dish and see how it tastes. But the real fun comes when a recipe with seemingly ordinary ingredients, simply combined, produces a result that is startling in its resulting unexpected flavors. Such was the case with this week's French Fridays With Dorie selection, Salmon en Papillote.


n.o.e.'s notes:

- The recipe, from Dorie Greenspan's Around My French Table, has just a few ingredients - salmon, tomatoes, basil, lemons, herbs (I used rosemary), scallions. Dorie shared the recipe on her blog, here.

- "en papillote" means in paper, and packets are often made of baking parchment. But, as Dorie explains, foil works just as well, and is actually easier to use. For company, however, nothing beats cutting into a paper packet and seeing the steam rise and catching a glimpse of the savory goodness within.


- My garden produced rather anemic basil. The leaves were small and I didn't have quite enough, so I filled in with Italian parsley.

- I seared the grape tomatoes in olive oil before adding to the packets

the verdict:

We were surprised - pleasantly! - at how well this recipe turned out. The ingredients worked together inside the sealed packets to produce a rich and savory broth, the kind that you want to lick off the place when the salmon is all gone.