A Perfect Parchment Paper Pouch

Hey everyone,
Who doesn't enjoy a nice, delicate, flavorful piece of fresh fish? I definitely am a big fan! I am also a big fan of cooking with simple yet different and useful techniques to make swag dishes. Poisson en Papillote, or Fish cooked in Parchment Paper, is a dish that uses an awesome technique to produce a tender and delicious piece of fish. By creating a pouch from our parchment paper, the fish steams inside and gets all moist and yummy. We want to jam-pack lots of flavors into the pouch, and we can do that by adding zesty veggies like bell pepper and leeks. Also, just like you may do with steak, a great compound butter can add lots of flavor while also adding melty buttery goodness, so cooking our fish in the pouch with a slice of homemade Shallot-White Wine Butter on top, is the icing on the cake. Adding lots of freshness is key when cooking fish, so lemon zest and juice will cook in our pouch with the fish as well, and topping it with a simple Citrus-Parsley Vinaigrette ties everything together perfectly. Hungry yet? Then read on for all of those delicious recipes for our Poisson en Papillote!

Poisson en Papillote with Shallot-White Wine Butter and Citrus-Parsley Vinaigrette (serves 4)

This recipe is also a great one to make with friends or family, which means it's also a great party food for your guests to help you with! They'll never want to leave your house if you make them this unbelievable delicious dish! It's truly better than restaurant quality!
Ingredients:

Shallot-White Wine Butter
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 shallot, chopped
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 tbsp chopped Parsley
Salt/black pepper
10x12 in. piece of wax or parchment paper

Pouches
4 prepared parchment paper "hearts" (see SWAGourmet! Ep. 5, Part 2 for instructions on how to prepare these pouches)
4 Tilapia fillets
1 bell pepper, sliced
1 leek, cleaned properly and sliced (see SWAGourmet! Ep. 5, Part 2 for guidelines on working with leeks)
1 tsp. vegetable oil
Salt/black pepper
4 slices of Shallot- White Wine Butter (see above)
Lemon zest and juice, to taste

Citrus-Parsley Vinaigrette
Juice and zest of 2 limes and lemons
Bunch of parsley, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt/ black pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
1. For the butter: Add white wine and shallots to a small saucepan and turn on medium heat. Let the wine and shallots cook until the all but 1 or 2 tablespoons of the wine has evaporated, about 10 minutes.
2. In a medium bowl, place the stick of butter, and add the shallot-wine reduction. Mix with a spoon, then add the parsley and combine further. Finish with the salt and pepper, to taste, and mix again.
3. Spoon the compound butter mixture onto the middle of the wax paper and roll it up, so as to re-form the butter mixture into a stick form again. Place the "butter roll" in the fridge to harden, about 20 minutes. In the mean time...
4. For the pouches: In a large bowl, combine your red bell peppers, leeks, vegetable oil, and salt/black pepper, taste.
5. Unfold your parchment paper hearts, and spread a little bit of vegetable oil on both halves of the side facing up.

6. On the right half, lay down some of the pepper-leek mixture,  making sure to add the veggies in the middle of the half, so don't come to close too the edges.
7. Lay down a tilapia fillet on top of the veggie mound, then add some salt/pepper on top of the fish. Remove the butter from the fridge, and put a slice of it right on top of the fillet.
8. Add a little lemon zest and fresh lemon juice, to taste.

9. Close your pouch by folding over the left half to meet the right, so that the edges meet, then fold at the edges.
10. Add your pouches to a baking sheet, and then place the sheet in the oven, and cook for 15 minutes. In the mean time...

11. For the vinaigrette: Add the lemon/lime juice and zest to a blender (while it's not running), and then add the parsley. Season with some salt/pepper.
12. Turn on the blender on low-medium, then as it's running, slowly add the olive oil, and let it run some more until the mixture has combined and become smooth. Set aside until you're ready to plate the dish.
13. For your tummy: After 15 minutes of cooking, the fish should now be ready to come out of the oven (you should also be able to hear the contents of the pouches sizzling). Remove the pouches, and open up the beautiful Christmas packages!
14. Drizzle the vinaigrette over the top, but make sure you don't drizzle too much of your saliva on the fish, as you will likely be salivating non-stop, so DIG IN and ENJOY!

Even I can't resist!