Fish in a Bag
I was at Jamie Oliver’s new restaurant ‘Jamie’s Italian’ at Westfield London recently and had the most delectable Fish in a Bag. I didn’t have my camera with me so no pictures – sorry! I loved the dish so much I went back home, scoured through Jamie’s cookbooks and found a similar fish in a bag recipe which I could easily adapt to replicate the same delicious meal I had at the restaurant.
Preparation was seriously painless…Plonk all the ingredients in a foil bag lined with parchment paper and that’s it! It’s so clever, and saves up on washing – big time!
Everything is ready for some in-the-bag steaming action
Tuck in!
The stock combined with the melty anchovies, natural fish, tomato and lemon juices cooked and flavoured the couscous and tenderised the fennel, making everything taste wonderful and fresh. Once cooked, tear open the top of the bag, and let the amazing aromas waft through. Accompanied with a nice, chilled glass of chardonnay. Mmmm…
Fish in a Bag
Adapted from ‘Jamie’s Italian’
One bag per serve…in each bag:
1 cod fillet
½ small fennel, finely sliced
Handful of couscous
5 cherry tomatoes, halved
Handful of basil and parsley leaves
2 anchovies, roughly torn up
Juice of half a small lemon, and couple of slices for cooking with
¾ cup of stock
Salt & pepper
Olive oil
Method:
Preheat oven to 200°C. Tear off a big piece of foil, line it with parchment paper, lay your fennel and couscous first, then the fish on top. Place the herbs, tomatoes, lemon slices and anchovies all over the fish and couscous. Season with salt and pepper, freshly squeezed lemon juice and a drizzle of olive oil over the lot.
Use another piece of foil, cover the pack, and squish three of the edges real tight (don’t want the yummy juices leaking out – Jamie used egg to seal the edges but I don’t find it necessary). Leave one of the edges open, so you can pour in the stock. Seal the last edge tight and bake it in the oven for 20 minutes.
The version I had yesterday at jamie’s kingston had bulghur wheat rather than couscous and also included red chili, the green bits from a spring onion, and sundried tomato (all diced and mixed in with the wheat), a few clams and mussels, and replaced the cherry tomatoes with a tomato and garlic sauce (atop the cod) which contained a few little pieces of cinnamon bark – an unusually pairing, I thought, but it worked a treat … I’m technically on a low sodium diet, so will have a bash at adapting your recipe so that it is more like the dish I had last night and is low sodium, so big thanks for getting me started!
December 31, 2010 at 10:59 AM