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RECIPE: Summer Parchment-Wrapped White Fish With Olive Tapenade
- Yield: Serves 6–8 1x
Description
Chef, teacher, and cookbook author Pascale Beale offers a succulent summer dish that’s bursting with the flavors of the French and Italian Riviera from her cookbook A Menu for All Seasons: Summer.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 1 1/2 cups pitted black niçoise or kalamata olives, divided
- Juice and zest of 1 lemon, divided
- 1/3 cup and 1 1/2 tbsps olive oil, divided
- 2 large red onions, diced
- 2 large yellow onions, diced
- 1 lb mixed tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 2 lbs sea bass or other white fish, cut into 4-oz filets
- 1/2 cup white wine
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Prepare black olive tapenade: Place 1 cup of the olives, half of the lemon juice, all the lemon zest, 1/3 cup olive oil, a pinch of salt, and 5 grinds of black pepper in a small food processor or a mortar and pestle. Process, or grind, the olives until they form a coarse paste. Set aside.
- In a saucepan, heat 1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil and add the red and yellow onion. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes until the onions are completely soft and translucent. Add the tomatoes and cook for 2 to 3 minutes more. Set aside.
- Cut a piece of parchment paper or foil to three times the size of the filet. Spoon a large tablespoon of the tomato mixture into the middle of the parchment paper. Place the filet on top of the tomatoes. Spread some of the tapenade all over the top of the filet. Drizzle a little white wine and lemon juice over the fish and add 2 or 3 olives to the package.
- Carefully pull the sides of the parchment paper up over the fish. Fold the parchment over itself to seal the long top edge, but don’t fold them up too tightly as you are making a little tent or pouch for the fish to cook in. Seal the parcels by tucking the ends in under the fish. Repeat with the remaining filets. Place the finished packages in a baking pan.
- Bake the fish for 15 to 20 minutes depending on the thickness of the filets, allowing 12 minutes per inch.
- To serve, carefully open the packages (they will be hot and steam will be released when you open them), and, using a spatula, remove the fish with the onion and tomatoes. Carefully pour the cooking juices around and over the fish.
Notes
This dish is perfect for all the beautiful tomatoes that are available at this time of year. Use yellow, red, heirloom, pear — the choice is yours. They can all be Roma, but a little variety adds extra depth to the sauce.
