DSC_0310There has been a pattern over my past several blog posts and my life in general over that same span: I have not been eating very healthy stuff. I think that has finally caught up with me;  I totally got fat. I decided it was time to cook something good for you that doesn’t taste terrible, so I turned to the French.

I will definitely cook fish this way again; it was really easy, mess free and you get to tear open your food like a present. Say what you want about French people, but they know how to eat and still stay skinny, so I will probably keep cooking French food for a little while. This meal seriously takes about 20 minutes to prepare: cut up some grape tomatoes and olives, then wrap those in parchment paper with the fish and some spices and butter. There you have it, a delightful meal that looks pretty impressive, if I do say so myself. Plus, I have a hunch that you could put all sorts of different vegetable combos in here and it would still taste good. I’ll let you know what else I experiment with.

DSC_0307Ingredients

12 ounces light white fish, like Dover sole

8 grape tomatoes, sliced in half lengthwise

8 black olives, like kalamata, finely chopped

1 tablespoon butter

Zest of half an orange

2 sage sprigs

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Salt and Pepper

Process

  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Lay half of fish on a square of parchment paper about 18″ across. Season lightly with salt and heavily with pepper, then top with half of the olives and tomatoes. Sprinkle with half of the orange zest and place half of the butter and one sage sprig on top of the fish. Fold parchment over the fish lengthwise (hot dog style, for all you kindergartners out there), then fold the top and bottom ends underneath the ingredients. The weight of the fish on top of the tail ends will keep everything contained. Follow the same process for the other half of the ingredients.
  2. Place fish on a baking sheet in the middle of the oven. Bake for 8-10 minutes until fish is just cooked through.
  3. Remove fish from oven and rip packet open. I paired this with some steamed green beans dressed in sea salt in olive oil. Enjoy your meal as you simultaneously lose weight!