Fish Filet in Parchment Paper, with Clementine Peel

Fish Filet in Parchment Paper, with Clementine Peel

Dinner was tonight was great. Every once and a while I crave fish and for me there is only one way to bake a fish filet and that is in a paper bag or in parchment paper.

I learned how to do that from watching the Barefoot Contessa on the Food Network.

This  morning I knew it was going to be another busy day and I decided I was not going to have another night of just a sandwich because I was too tired to cook.

 In the morning I took a fish filet out of the freezer to defrost.

When it was defrosted around noon I took a moment and cut a piece of parchment paper and laid my piece of fish on it.

I was out of a lot of the things I usually use on the fish but like I always tell you think outside of the box.

The mad scientist in me started figuring out what to substitute for what I didn’t have.

I did have the olive oil and I did have two types of sea salt and of course I always have four types of whole pepper I can use. Good deal that would do for a multitude of things.

First thing and maybe the most important was that I had no lemon. I had lemon juice but no real lemon. That was ok I said to myself Lemon is a citric and I do have a lot of Clementine’s. So it took a Clementine and took some of the peel for the fish, Next I peeled the Clementine and set it aside with the peel until I rubbed the fish with the oil.

The next thing I needed and didn't have were olives. That little part of me that loves the Middle East has always let me to use Middle Eastern ingredients. But I still had no olives what to do. Ah well we are using the olive oil right? So that will have to do for the olive flavor. The other thing that olives bring to the taste is a strong but not over whelming salty taste.  It did stump me for a moment then I realized I had the solution right on the counter. I had whole sea salt in and grinder. Good enough! I hoped it would do.

Now I was ready to prepare the fish. First I rubbed the fish with the olive oil and put some finely ground sea salt on the fish. Next I covered the fish with the fresh ground pepper. If you don’t like pepper don’t use as much. I am a pepper addict.

Once both sides of the fish was coated I then ground some sea salt really roughly ground on the top of the fish and the dropped the orange peel on top of that.  I squeezed a little Clementine juice on the fish then wrapped it up in the paper.  I then put it in the refrigerator until later so it could marinate.

That evening when I was ready to eat I heated the oven to 400 degrees and put the fish in the oven for twelve minutes on convection. If you don’t have convection oven then fifteen minutes in a regular oven.

Next I took the broccoli out of the freezer. I will admit I am not a big fan of broccoli but after writing that article on the best foods I figured I could find a way to enjoy it since it was considered one of the best foods out there.

I took the broccoli and added a little sea salt and some pepper.

I knew that was not going to cut it taste wise for me. I looked over at the counter and said why not use the Clementine for the broccoli as well? So I added a touch of butter and mixed some peel in with the broccoli.  I put it in the microwave for three minutes covered.

The only thing to left to do was cut up the Clementine for my dinner plate.

By the time I was done so was the fish.

I assembled my plate and had an awesome dinner!

I found out that orange is just as good as lemon with fish and it did improve the taste of the broccoli.

This was enough dinner for me but if you have a bigger appetite. I will suggest two pieces of fish for dinner instead of one.

 Believe me you will want more when you make it this way! Also add some rice.  A bed of rice under the fish would be a nice addition to this meal.  I just don’t have a big enough appetite for all that.

Next time I will remember to add a little more peel, another piece of fish and more broccoli. No not for me for my cats. After all they are cats so of course they wanted some of the fish!

I ate most of the fish myself to their dismay but I did leave about a quarter of it for them. My little girl cat Cassie enjoyed her have of the fish and was satisfied. Not so with my boy cat Angel. He enjoyed the fish of course but wanted more. But believe it or not he enjoyed the broccoli and the orange peel just as much as the fish! Go figure right?

Hummm too bad I didn't take more fish out for dinner again for tomorrows dinner but then again I don't want to over do it. But still....

 See what I mean when you cook it this way you always want more!