Baked Sea Bass, Papillote Style, with Lemon and Olives

Baked Sea Bass, Papillote Style, with Lemon and Olives

Serves 4

This is a ridiculously easy preparation based on dishes cooked en papillote, a French technique that bakes a dish’s ingredients—usually fish and vegetables—in a parchment-paper packet brushed with melted butter. In the right hands, this is a beautiful thing: The little packages puff up in a charming, almost regal way and turn goldenbrown in the heat of the oven. And the presentation is dramatic: The paper is broken open right under the diner’s nose, releasing a plume of aromatic steam. This technique has left quite a legacy: Dishes cooked en papillote were probably the first prepared, single-serving meal ever invented, an unlikely ancestor of Stouffer’s frozen meals and Jiffy Pop popcorn. On a more personal note: I’ve always thought this technique was cool because it cooks a big paper package in the oven without causing a fire.

This recipe adapts the papillote concept, transferring it to a baking sheet and substituting a common modern convenience, aluminum foil, for the parchment paper. It also does away with the single-serving notion, cooking all of the fish together.

I recommend serving this with steamed couscous or millet.

 

4 sea bass, snapper, or striped bass fillets (7 ounces each), skin on

2 cloves garlic, peeled and very thinly sliced

2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon leaves

1 lemon, peeled and separated into segments (see note)

2 cups assorted olives such as Niçoise, Kalamata, and Picholine, pitted

2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives

¹/₄ cup extra-virgin olive oil

¹/₄ cup dry white wine

¹/₄ cup bottled clam juice

Coarse salt

Freshly ground black pepper

 

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. To keep the fish from curling when cooked, score the skin diagonally at 1-inch intervals using a razor blade or very sharp, very thin-bladed knife.

2. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Scatter the garlic, tarragon, lemon segments, olives, and chives over the foil. Drizzle with the olive oil, wine, and clam juice. Season the fish fillets on both sides with salt and pepper and arrange, skin side up, in the pan without crowding. Cover with another sheet of aluminum foil and crimp the sheets of foil around the edges to seal the contents, pressing gently on the top to release any excess air.

3. Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake until the fish is very firm to the touch and opaque at the center, about 20 minutes. (To check, open the foil carefully at one edge and break a fillet open gently with a spatula. If the fish isn’t done when you check it, reseal the foil and return the pan to the oven for another few minutes.)

4. To serve, remove the pan from the oven and carefully transfer 1 fish fillet to the center of each of 4 warm plates. Spoon some of the pan juices, olives, and lemon segments over and around the fish.

VARIATIONS

Baked Sea Bass with Tomato and Green Peppercorns

For a more colorful take on this idea with a pronounced saltiness, scatter ¹/₂ cup diced tomato in the pan along with the garlic, tarragon, lemon segments, olives, and chives, and add a tablespoon of green peppercorns packed in brine along with the olive oil, wine, and clam juice.

CITRUS SEGMENTS

To make peeled lemon, lime, or orange segments (called suprêmes in French), cut the top and bottom off the fruit. Stand it on 1 end and using a sharp knife, cut down along the sides, following the curve of the fruit and removing the peel, pith, and a little bit of the fruit so that the flesh is exposed. Cut between the membranes to separate the fruit into totally exposed segments. Carefully remove and discard the seeds.