En Papillote is French and when it comes to food, it means to cook in a pouch or parcel. This is one of my favourite little hacks in the kitchen, especially for fish. The result is a combination of baking and steaming that leaves the delicious contents beautifully cooked and flavourful. It’s also super easy!
Harissa Salmon, Lemon & Chickpeas en Papillote is the perfect way to sort of drop everything into the oven and let it do all the work. It’s the kind of dinner you can quickly prepare and then leave it alone while you get busy with something else until the timer goes off. Weeknight cooking at its finest. This recipe is for two people, but you could easily multiply the recipe to feed more people.
Keep in mind when doing your shopping that you’ll need some baking paper to make the parcels. If you don’t have any baking paper to hand, you can use foil instead. Let’s get started!
Serves 2
Ingredients
- 1 unwaxed lemon
- 400g tin of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 1 teaspoon sweet paprika
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1 teaspoon harissa paste
- Finely chopped leaves from a handful of fresh coriander
- Sea salt flakes
- 2 boneless, skinless salmon fillets
- 2 teaspoons harissa paste
- Olive oil for drizzling
- 220g bag of microwave whole grain rice to serve
- Crusty bread to serve on the side (optional)
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180°C / 260°Fan / 350°F.
- Cut the lemon in half. Slice one half into thin slices and set aside.
- Pour the drained and rinsed chickpeas into a bowl and juice the other half of the lemon into them. Add the sweet paprika, honey, 1 teaspoon harissa paste, 3/4 of the chopped coriander and season with sea salt flakes. Toss to mix everything and coat the chickpeas.
- Tear off two large sheets of baking paper and lay them on a flat surface to use for the parcels. Divide the chickpeas evenly between the two pieces of paper, leaving them in a mound with plenty of room on either side so you can fold and seal everything up later.
- Place a salmon fillet on top of each mound of chickpeas. Season the fillets with sea salt and spread 1 teaspoon of harissa paste on each one.
- Drizzle each fillet topped mound with some olive oil and top each one with lemon slices.
- Fold the paper in half over the salmon & chickpeas and work each side of the parcel folding and crimping inward a few times on every side to seal it in, finishing with the top of the parcel. It should look a bit like a paper bag with the top folded over. Repeat with the second parcel and when doing this, make sure you’ve left some room inside for the steam. You don’t want them to be too tight to the food.
- Place the parcels seams down on a baking tray and pop in the oven for 30 minutes. This is for well-done salmon and don’t worry – it will not dry out in the parcel, but be moist and juicy, flaking easily. However if you like your salmon a bit more medium rare, feel free to adjust cooking times to your liking.
- Just before serving, microwave your rice – it’s usually only a couple of minutes. Fluff with a fork and divide evenly between two plates or bowls.
- To serve, open the parcels carefully and take care not to burn yourself with the escaping steam. Pile the contents of the pouch onto the rice, making sure to get as much of the juices out of the pouch as possible for maximum flavour. Sprinkle the rest of the chopped coriander on top and serve hot with some crusty bread if you have it for scooping up the roasted lemon flesh and any juices left behind.
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