Category Archives: recipes

March 14, 2012 · 5:25 am

Recipe: Chorizo Basquaise Poached Egg with Olive Oil Crouton

Recipe adapted with permission from the Cook’n with Class school in Paris and my teacher, Chef Constance Deledalle. By the way, Constance has a fun blog which she pens in English about her culinary adventures in Paris and beyond. For the bread, she used a hearty walnut-studded wheat, but you could likely use any day-old bread with good results. Serves six.

6 eggs
8 bell peppers, a mix of red and yellow
3 medium yellow onions, sliced thin
1 big chunk of chorizo, about 6 oz.
3 tablespoons olive oil
Few sprigs fresh thyme or at least 1 teaspoon dried
4 cloves garlic, chopped
3 tablespoon white wine vinegar
Six small slices of day-old bread
Coarse salt, fresh-ground pepper

A student cuts up peppers

Prepare the basquise: Slice the peppers in half, remove the white membrane and any seeds, then slice them into thin slices (julienne). and scoop out the seeds. Peel and slice the onions. Dice the chorizo into one-inch cubes, or if using a sausage-style chorizo, slice into thick rounds. Add the olive oil to a skillet over medium heat and cook the onions until softened. Then add the peppers, the chorizo, thyme, and garlic. Cover the pot, turn down the heat and let it cook slowly until the peppers soften, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Prepare the eggs: In a sauce pan large enough to hold six eggs, add water along with the vinegar and bring to a boil. If you have heat-resistant plastic, you can try Chef Constance’s technique by preparing the eggs by enclosing in plastic, (see below) pressing out as much air as possible and then securing with a knot. If not, poach them the traditional way. Poach to desired doneness, preferably to the point where a bit of yolk runs when cut in half.

Make croutons: Baste each side of the bread slices with olive oil and pepper and briefly roast in the oven for about five minutes or until crisp.

To serve, remove the thyme sprigs (if using), heap the cooked peppers in the middle of a plate or bowl, top with the egg and serve with the crouton.

Cooking Technique: Poaching eggs in plastic

 Chef Constance taught us a great trick: poaching eggs in heat-resistant plastic. She pulled a sheet of plastic over a small bowl, cracked the egg into it, squeezed out the air and then secured it with a knot. The eggs were then placed in hot water for a few minutes until cooked. Result: a perfect poached egg.

Secure with knot

Gently poach

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January 30, 2012 · 11:25 am

Recipe: Fabulous Scones Simple Enough for the Baking Challenged

For years, my sister, Sandy, has been working to develop the perfect scone. It’s a mission to satisfy a taste of home for her mother-in-law, Nora, a gentle woman born and raised in Ireland. Now 91, Nora grew up in an era when life was measured by what happened in between cups of tea and the most common form of entertainment was conversation, not watching television. “TV ruined the talk,” she says in her sweet Irish brogue. About a dozen years ago, Sandy and Nora were in Michigan having tea in a bakery when they ordered a batch of scones. Nora just sighed. “If there’s one thing I wish for, it’s a good scone, like the ones my dear mother used to make.” My sister never backs down from a challenge. Here’s her recipe. The hands you see belong to her, working in her kitchen in St. Petersburg, Florida.

I’m a fan of this recipe for a number of reasons. It’s easy enough for non-bakers, plus flexible enough for any taste. If you whip up a batch of these on a Sunday morning, you’ve got a lovely weekend treat, plus something to grab-and-go inexpensive breakfasts for the rest of the week. These keep best if left on the counter covered with a dish towel. They’re good at room temperature, but warm up best in a low oven or toaster oven.

Sandy’s Scones

Grating frozen butter into the batter and then chilling the completed dough again after mixing is the secret to a flaky, soft scone so don’t skip this crucial step.

A great thing about scones is that they’re flexible when it comes to flavoring. Try studding them with frozen blueberries, chopped peaches, chocolate chips, chopped apples, chopped dried figs, crushed almonds — the possibilities are endless. Just be sure not to use any fruit that’s too wet such as fresh blueberries as that can introduce too much liquid into the dough and to thoroughly chill whatever you add in the freezer. You can also boost the flavor by spreading a light layer of jam or marmalade once the rolled out flour.

My sister uses fat-free milk and sour cream; I use low-fat as they tend to have less artificial ingredients. Yields about 15 scones.

8 tablespoons butter (1 stick), frozen
1 teaspoon of grated lemon or orange peel
2 cups white unbleached flour
¼ teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup + 1 tablespoon sugar
½ cup low-fat milk
½ cup low-fat sour cream
1 egg, beaten

¼ cup dried cranberries
2 tablespoons orange marmelade

Before starting, put your butter in the freezer for at least 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 425 F degrees. Then, grate the frozen butter with a cheese grater. Place it back in the freezer.

In a bowl, whisk the milk and sour cream together and then put into the fridge. Grate the skin off a lemon or orange into a large bowl. Add in the the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and ½ cup sugar and stir together. Lightly dust the countertop with flour.

Get the grated frozen butter and toss it with the flour mixture until all the butter is coated. Fold in the child milk and sour cream mixture and combine until the batter is quite wet. Turn out onto the floured countertop and with floured hands, knead it about six times. Do not over knead it.

Roll the dough with a rolling pin into a 12-inch square. Fold it in half, and then fold again, like folding a napkin. Put it on a plate or similar and put into the freezer for about five minutes. This will rest the dough plus slightly refreeze the butter, yielding a more flaky pastry.

While its in the freezer, dust your countertop with flour again and put a heavy cookie sheet or baking stone into your preheated oven to get it warm. (You might want to use these few minutes to make yourself a cup of tea.)

After five minutes, remove the doll and roll your square flat into a 12-inch square. Push the dried cranberries into flattened batter, then spoon the marmalade into a light layer over top. Roll up the dough and turn it over if necessary so the seam is on the bottom. Gently push the roll down until it’s about three inches wide.

With a sharp knife, cut the roll into a series of triangles. Brush the top with the beaten up and sprinkle lightly with the remaining sugar. Place the triangles on the preheated cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes or until medium brown. Let the scones rest at least 15 minutes before serving.

You might also be interested in…
- GlutenFreeGourmand: Gluten-free scone recipe
- Jeanette’s Healthy Living: Vegan/gluten-free cinammon-spiced scones

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January 8, 2012 · 11:11 am

Recipe: Easy Fresh Tomato Sauce

Be sure to have all the ingredients ready before starting the sauce. It’s ready more quickly than you expect. Good tasting fresh tomatoes make all the difference here; cherry tomatoes work especially well and just need to be cut in half. Makes enough sauce for about four- to six-ounces of pasta, or two servings.
2 to 3 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup finely chopped onions
About one-pound tomatoes, chopped
¼ cup white wine (optional)
¼ cup hot pasta water
1 tablespoon minced parsley or basil
Pinch or two hot pepper flakes
¼ cup Parmesan cheese

Add oil to a sauté pan over high heat. Add the garlic and onions, briefly cook until softened. Add the tomatoes, a splash of wine (optional), any other vegetables (see below) and cook for about two to three minutes until all are softened. Add in the hot pasta water and cook until reduced and the rest of the ingredients begin to break down, about another two minutes. Remove from heat, add cheese and serve over hot pasta.

Variations:
-Add in a splash of cream at the end of cooking for a more creamy texture
-A handful of additional vegetables such as zucchini, artichokes, olives, asparagus can be added to extend the sauce and offer additional flavor. Be creative!
-Cooked shrimp or chicken can be added are the tomatoes

Easy Spaghetti Sauce
Cheaper, tastier and healthier than most jars of pasta sauce, this easy version can be made in the time that it takes to make your pasta and a quick salad. As an added bonus, you can add in vegetables or other flavorings. Makes four servings

4 tablespoons olive oil
¾ cup finely chopped onion , about half an onion)
1 ½ teaspoons mixed Italian herbs
4 cloves fresh garlic, finely chopped
1 (16-oz.) can tomato sauce (about two cups)
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar (optional)
1 Bay leaf
In a saucepan over medium heat, cook and stir the onions and herbs in olive oil until tender. Add garlic, cook and stir for one minute. Add rest of the ingredients, bring to a boil then simmer uncovered on low heat for about 20 minutes. Taste, adjust seasonings.
Variations:
- About a half-cup of green and/or black olives for a puttanesca-style sauce
-A handful of finely chopped mushrooms
-Two tablespoons of red wine added just before simmering for a “cabernet” style sauce

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December 13, 2011 · 1:02 pm

Recipe: Light Pumpkin Spice Cheesecake

I don’t like cheesecake. So often, it tastes simply of cream cheese and sugar, so rather than a guilty sense of pleasure, it leaves a cloying aftertaste in its wake. But my mother requested pumpkin cheesecake for Thanksgiving, so I reluctantly researched recipes. I got annoyed at recipes calling for up to a stick of butter or a cup of sugar to be added to a graham cracker crust. Seriously? Graham crackers already contain butter or oil and plenty of sugar. After a few trials, I used just three tablespoons of butter and added a bit of agave syrup to hold it all together.

The filling incorporates soft tofu in place of one of the cream cheese packages, a tip from vegan recipes. But most recipes call for cup of white sugar, which struck me as excessive. So I cut back on the sweet factor, opted for agave syrup and brown sugar and kicked up the spice quotient. The result? Lighter than either pumpkin pie or traditional cheesecake yet with the same holiday flavor with significantly less sugar and fat.

I try to cut back on hydrogenated oils at every turn and HoneyMaid, the leading graham cracker brand uses the dreaded partially hydrogenated cottonseed oil, so if you can find them, try the ones from Back to Nature Foods. Simply smash them in a plastic bag with the bottom of a heavy saucepan or pulse in a food processor. If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice, simply use a blend of cinnamon, nutmeg and ground cloves.

Crust
1 ½ cups of graham cracker crumbs
¼ cup (3 tablespoons) melted unsalted butter
2 tablespoons agave syrup, honey or maple syrup

Filling
1 16 oz. package silky or soft tofu
1 8 oz. package cream cheese
1 15 oz. can pumpkin puree (about 1 ½ cups)
¼ cup (3 tablespoons) agave syrup or honey
¼ cup (3 tablespoons) brown sugar
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
Pinch of salt
3 eggs

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine the cracker crumbs, butter and syrup or honey in a bowl and blend with a spoon or fingers until they’re moist. Press into the bottom of a tart pan or spring-form mold and bake in the oven for about 15 minutes. Let cool before adding the filling or else the heat from crust and pan will start to cook the filling; you can pop the whole pan into freezer to accelerate the cooling process. You can do this a day prior, too; just store the shell in the fridge.

Drain the tofu and crumble into a colander to drain off excess liquid. Blend the tofu, cream cheese, pumpkin puree, syrup or honey, sugar, spice and salt together in a large bowl and using a mixer or hand-held blender or food processor. Taste. If you want it sweeter or spicier, add more sugar or spice. The batter won’t look exactly smooth as the tofu will keep it a bit lumpy, so just blend it enough to get it consistency like small curd cottage cheese. Add the eggs one at a time and blend each one thoroughly into the batter. Pour the batter onto the cooled crust and bake for about 50 minutes to one hour or until the batter firms up and the edges brown slightly and start to come away from the sides of the pan. Let cool, then put into a refrigerator for at least four hours. It can be made up to two days in advance of serving.

Before serving, as a garnish, sprinkle the top with brown sugar, powdered sugar or a very light coating of nutmeg along the top. (The easiest way to do this is to put a small amount into a mesh sieve and wave over the top.) If you’re the type who likes nuts on their cheesecake, you can also garnish with candied walnuts, pecans or similar. Of course, a dab of freshly whipped cream is universally well loved.

You might also be interested in:
- Smitten Kitchen: How to make your own graham crackers
- Confections of a Foodie Bride: Pumpkin cheesecake brownies
- To Live and Eat in LA: Vegan pumpkin cheesecake
- Elena’s Pantry: Gluten-free cinammon cheesecake

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December 2, 2011 · 8:41 am

We Didn’t Miss the Turkey

I just realized that I’ve not yet provided a full report on our first vegetarian Thanksgiving. To start, the vegetable pot pie recipe from Kim O’Donnel’s great book The Meat Lover’s Meatless Cookbook were such a hit that Mike thinks they should become an annual tradition. My sister made her first batch of stuffing with thyme-spiked vegetable stock instead of turkey stock, then studded it with cranberries, walnuts and roasted vegetables. Honestly, it was some of the best stuffing she’s ever made.

I heart mashed potatoesFor me, the holidays are all about the mashed potatoes and gravy. My niece Sarah won’t eat mushrooms, so I gently coaxed three large sweet onion to caramelize to a mahogany color and used them in a recipe similar to this one. I didn’t have any arrowroot to thicken it, and I don’t like the flavor of cornstarch. In a moment of inspiration, I took some oatmeal and pulverize it in the coffee grinder that I set aside for herbs. Voila! Instantly thickened gravy.

I’ve started to use the caramelized shallot butter from Fine cooking that we put on the roasted brussel sprouts for everything. That stuff’s addictive.

So, now I’m contemplating Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas Day dinner. We’ll have carnivore friends visiting us for the holiday. I’m eyeing the chard and lentil shepard’s pie, another dish from Kim O’Donnel’s book. I can always make a traditional one with beef. That should satisfy everyone, right?

Onion Herb Gravy
The stock determines whether this is vegetarian and the final flavor; traditional English gravies use beef stock. Use oil in place of butter along with vegetable stock to make it vegan-friendly. The onions can be caramelized a couple of days in advance; caramlized onions can also be frozen and make a great addition to virtually any savory dish.

If using a thin vegetable stock, the resulting gravy may need a boost to hit your desired thickness. Add a bit of any traditional thickener, such as arrowroot, potato starch, Wondra, tapioca or cornstarch or try my handy trick of whizzing some oatmeal in a coffee grinder. Be careful and add only a teaspoon at a time and whisk well to avoid creating lumps.

2 large sweet onions, such as Vidalia
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 bay leaf
1 1/2 tablespoon butter or vegetable oil
1 1/2 tablespoon flour
3 cups stock (vegetable, mushroom, poultry or beef)
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
Coarse salt, black pepper

Thinly slice the onions. Add oil to a large skillet over medium-high heat and add the onions and bay leaf. Stirring regularly, saute the onions for about 10 minutes, adding splashes of water as needed to keep from sticking to the bottom of the pan. After 10 minutes, reduce the heat to medium-low and stir from time to time until the onions are a deep brown color, about 35 minutes.

When ready to make the gravy, melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Make a roux by adding the flour and whisk to incorporate and lightly cook the flour until it smells like popcorn. Add the stock and bring to gentle boil while whisking. Add the onions, bay leaf, thyme, a couple pinches of salt and a few grinds of coarse pepper. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Spoon off any foam or fat that rises to the surface. Taste. Add more salt and pepper until it reaches the flavor you want. Remove the bay leaf before serving.

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November 22, 2011 · 10:37 am

Our first vegetarian Thanksgiving

As promised, here’s the plan for our Thanksgiving dinner this Thursday. It’s subject to change, of course, once my sister Sandy gets involved, not to mention that I’m notoriously fickle about following recipes. But it’s kind of a big deal as its the first time in the history of my family that we’ve had a vegetarian Thanksgiving.

Yes, me, the woman who spent a year at Le Cordon Bleu stuffing meat into other meat and who has deboned and dismembered entire turkey for the past five years will be making a completely vegetarian menu. A couple of months ago, Mike and I watched the documentary Forks Over Knives. The gist: medical research increasingly shows that people with diets high in meat and dairy tend to be the most likely to suffer from obesity, diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease. This isn’t exactly breaking news, but the film focuses on an extensive labor of research known as The China Study. Mike and I had already started cutting our meat consumption already, but after watching the film, we made a pact to keep it to less than 10 percent.

Coincidentally, my mother and stepdad watched the film around the same time and came to the same conclusion. My mother went on a mission to get everyone in our extended family to watch it, and thus it’s been a domino effect resulting in all the people who will be seated at our Thanksgiving table this year didn’t want a turkey.

Most of my meat eating these days comes when eating out, as often the vegetarian options on menu seem lacking (or non-existant) and sometimes it’s just socially awkward. Plus, as a food writer, it’s sometimes part of my job to eat or try certain things.

But this new habit has altered my perspective. For example, I never noticed that most restaurants include meat on every single menu item, including salads. I got into a protracted discussion with a hotel restaurant manager in Los Angeles while on book tour after I asked about vegetarian options and the server brought me a kids menu since it offered spaghetti with marinara sauce (from a can) and mac and cheese, their only non-meat options.

It’s discouraging to see the wide swath of real estate devoted to meat in my supermarket here in Florida, only to see the organic vegetable and tofu ghetto stuffed into a dark corner of the produce section.  (The stocker I talked to said he’s “always restocking the tofu” since they sell a lot of it.)

This doesn’t mean that I’ll never write another recipe with meat, or that I’ll never roast another chicken or anything like that. But I think everyone could use shaking up the foundations of their diet and routines every now and then, don’t you?

With that, here’s the basic plan with another vegetable side (or two) to come from my sister. I’ll be sharing what I’m making as we go on Twitter, if you’d like to follow along.

Main dish

Appetizers

Sides

Desserts

We also have a meyer lemon tree in our yard, so I’m looking for a healthy-ish lemon cream pie recipe. Anyone got one?

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September 16, 2011 · 12:35 pm

Friday recipe: Carrot and rosemary soup

Call this a recipe of serendipity. I developed this recipe last year when writing the new book. I was working hard to use every single item in my refrigerator to avoid wasting food when I found myself staring at a two-pound bag of organic carrots. At the same time, Mike had trimmed the ancient rosemary bush that sometimes invades our driveway. I don’t think I would have thought to pair the two things together, but I’m a fan of savory and sweet so I gave it a try. Now it’s a household.

One thing that I discuss in the new book is the importance of learning to make soup. Vegetable-based soups are cheap, an easy way to use up leftovers and when pureed, often a way to get vegetables into kids who won’t eat them in their usual form. Case in point: our friend’s daughter refuses to eat raw carrots, but she’ll slurp down a gallon of carrot soup. This method can be used with other unappreciated vegetables in your crisper.

This savory and sweet soup can be served at any temperature, but it’s excellent chilled. Immersion or “stick” blenders are great for soup because you can plunge them directly into the pot. Hot soup can create a vacuum in conventional blenders, so if you use one, let the soup chill slightly first, and then take the cap off and cover with a towel. Running soups through a food mill is a low-tech option. If you have none of the above, simply mash the softened vegetables with a fork or potato masher; it will lend a rustic feel to the finished product. Add the rosemary, branch and all, but be sure to remove it before pureeing unless you’re looking for, um, well some unexpected fiber in your dish.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped (about 1½ cups)
2 leeks (white and light green parts), chopped
1 pound carrots, diced
Several fresh rosemary sprigs
1 bay leaf
2 quarts chicken or vegetable stock
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
Pinch of cayenne (optional)
⅓ cup quality plain yogurt (optional)
Croutons (optional)

Heat the olive oil in a 4-quart or larger saucepan. Add the onion and leeks and sauté until softened. Add the carrots, rosemary sprigs, bay leaf, stock, a couple of pinches of coarse salt, a few grinds of coarse pepper, and a pinch of cayenne if using. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce the heat to simmer until the carrots soften, about 1 hour,.

Remove from the heat. Discard the rosemary and the bay leaf. Puree until smooth. Add in additional water if necessary. Return to the pot. Check the seasonings, adding salt, black pepper, and cayenne to taste. Serve warm or cooled. Garnish with a scoop of greek yogurt or croutons if desired.

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August 8, 2011 · 12:08 pm

Recipe: Onion Soup Gratinéed W/Cheese

In a recipe with few ingredients such as this one, it’s essential that all must be of the best possible quality. For best results give the onions a careful, slow cooking to properly caramelize, and then simmer them in a broth that itself is rich with flavor. Be sure to use bowls that can stand up under a broiler or the whole exercise may end in tears.

2 medium (1 pound) yellow onions, sliced thin
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 tablespoons flour
½ teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
½ cup (125 ml) dry white wine or dry vermouth
1 tablespoon cognac
2 quarts (2 L) beef stock, boiled
¼ French baguette, sliced thin
6 ounces (180 g) gruyere cheese, grated
1 ounce (30 g) Parmesan cheese, grated (optional)

Preheat oven to 350° F/ 180° C degrees. In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, slowly brown the onions in butter until carmelized. Be patient, this will take at least a half hour. Sprinkle the onions with flour and stir thoroughly. Add the wine and Cognac, cook long enough to evaporate the alcohol and add the hot stock and bouquet garni. Simmer for one hour, uncovered.

Meanwhile, toast the baguette slices. Just before serving, top one side of the bread slices with cheese and broil lightly until cheese slightly melts. Remove bouquet garni and ladle soup into four broiler-safe bowls, such as heavy crockware. Put the toasts into the soup, cheese side down. Top with a layer of Gruyere, and then a bit of Parmesan. Bake for 15 minutes at 350°F / 180° C and then put under a broiler for a couple of minutes until the cheese bubbles and browns. Serves four.

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· 11:54 am

Recipe: Golden Onion Quiche


Quiche is like pizza – it can be made with almost anything. This version uses the onions and tomatoes from the Pissaldière, but try asparagus, ham, artichokes, whatever. The onions will seem an insurmountable pile, but they reduce drastically. If good tomatoes aren’t available or time is short, use soft sun-dried tomatoes. Prepared pie crust dough may be used or make your own pâte brisée from the “Extra Recipes” in the back of the book. Quiche may be served hot, warm or chilled, and reheats well in a low oven.

Prepared pie dough or pâte brisée
Roasted tomato petals
6 to 8 tomatoes
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
4 sprigs thyme
1 teaspoon coarse salt
Caramelized onions
3 large onions (about two pounds), sliced
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon flour

Quiche filling
3 large eggs
¾ cup (175 ml) heavy cream
Coarse salt, ground pepper
½ teaspoon fresh thyme
3 ounces (90 grams) Gruyère cheese, grated

Preheat oven to a low heat, 250°F /120°C. Slice an ‘x’on the bottom of each tomato. Drop into boiling water for a few seconds, then plunge into a bowl of ice water. Tear the flaps on the “x” to remove skin. Cut out the core and then quarter and remove the seeds. Line slivers on parchment atop a baking sheet. Drizzle on the oil and add garlic, thyme and salt. Gently bake for about 1 1/2 hours, or until they are tender.

Meanwhile, in a large sauté pan melt the butter with the olive oil. Add the onions and bay leaf. Cook and stir patiently until they’re brown and soft, about a half hour. Once browned, sprinkle with flour and a dash of salt and cook another 2 minutes. Set aside to cool. Remove the tomato petals from the sheet, let cool.

Increase oven to 425° F / 220°C. Roll out the dough, press it into a quiche or pie pan. Pierce the bottom with a fork. To keep its shape, set parchment or aluminum foil in the center and fill with pie weights or dry beans. Bake for 5 minutes. Remove weights, brush the pastry with beaten egg and return to oven for 7 minutes. Cool slightly.

Whisk the eggs and cream in a bowl. Stir in about one-third of the cheese, salt, pepper and thyme. Stir in the cooled onions and then pour into the pastry shell. Arrange tomatoes in decorative pattern on top. Sprinkle on remaining Gruyère. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes until firm, slightly browned and a bit puffy. Makes one quiche, or six to eight slices.

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July 29, 2011 · 6:11 am

Fish en papillote

Cooking en papillote (French for “parchment”) is a wildly overlooked method of cooking in America. It’s an easy method for a quick weeknight dinner that’s also elegant enough for guests. The smell that escapes when the package is reason enough to try it. This works well for salmon and mild-flavored white fish such as snapper, cod and so on. The best part? No dishes. Just throw the paper away. To assure thorough cooking, fish fillets or chicken breast slices less than a half-inch thick. This works best in parchment paper, but you can also use aluminum foil. Choose ingredients to get a flavor you like. For instance, to get an Asian flavor, use sesame in place of olive oil, add lime, cilantro and ginger to the package, and possibly finely sliced water chestnuts.

You’ll need 2 (10 x 12) inch pieces of parchment. I prefer to use the unbleached variety on the roll; it’s available at most supermarkets for less than $3. You can use foil, but don’t use too much vinegar or wine as it may react with the aluminum. Don’t use wax paper; it will become gummy and sort of “melt,” and frankly, no one wants wax with their chicken. Serves two.

Ingredients
2 (4 oz.) piece of fish or thinly sliced chicken breast
4 teaspoons olive oil
Few sprigs of fresh herbs (dill, basil, thyme, rosemary) or a ½ teaspoon dried
1/4 cup of white wine (or water)
Few thin lemon slices
Pinch of cayenne

Garnish (optional): About ½ cup of vegetable for flavor and garnish: shallots, onion, garlic, zucchini, carrot, broccoli, fennel, mushrooms, etc. each finely chopped or sliced

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit or 200 Celsius. Fold each sheet in half.On one half of each paper heart, drizzle half the olive oil (two teaspoons per sheet) and add generous pinches of of coarse salt and pepper. Add the fish and turn over to coat. Place herbs, lemon and vegetables on top of the fish and drizzle some wine over each. Crimp the edges of the parchment or foil and shut carefully to avoid allowing any liquid or steam to escape from the package during cooking. Place the packages on a baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes. Allow to sit at least one minute, and then open carefully.

Other good papillote recipes:
-Food 52: Shrimp and roasted tomato fettucine
-French Cooking for Dummies: Whole trout in foil
-Sophistimom: Chicken in paper

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