Dinner en Papillote: Cooking in Parchment

published Mar 19, 2012
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(Image credit: Apartment Therapy)

If you think parchment paper is just for lining baking sheets, think again! It’s a great tool for making a simple yet elegant dinner en papillote.

Whether you’re cooking for one or many, wrapping up parcels of seafood, chicken, tofu, mushrooms, or vegetables in parchment paper (en papillote) is an easy way to make a relatively hands-off meal. Baked in a hot oven, the parchment parcels retain moisture to create wonderfully succulent proteins and vegetables. Because of the steam, you don’t even need to use oil, just herbs and seasonings, so this is also a low-fat way to cook.

Need some inspiration? Check out these recipes for dinner en papillote:

Sesame-Ginger Salmon en Papillote (Cooking Channel)
Mexicana Chicken (Delish)
Tofu In The Style Of Southeast Asian Steamed Fish (Herbivoracious)
Mushrooms and Tofu en Papillote (The First Mess)
• Jennifer’s Farmers Market Bounty En Papillote (The Kitchn)

Parcels can often be assembled in advance, so you can have them ready to pop in the oven when you get home from work.

Related: A Better Way To Roast Beets?