Sea Bass with Garlic in Parchment

I have always wanted to try making fish in parchment since those cooking packets look so elegant in the photos. My latest favorite cookbook, Purple Citrus & Sweet Perfume, by Silvena Rowe had a parchment recipe that I adapted to the ingredients I had on hand. The packets were fun to prepare and once assembled made for easy cooking. I can't report that the dish was exciting. The flavors were subtle and the fish succulent. Sometimes that is what you want.

I served the fish with brown rice mixed with sauteed fennel, mushrooms and sliced almonds.

4 sea bass fillets

4 tbl. lemon juice

4 tbl. olive oil

1 large garlic clove, minced

2 ripe plum tomatoes, sliced into 12 rounds

12 pearl onions, peeled

4 lemon slices

4 bay leaves

2 tsp. crushed sumac

4 tbl. raki or other anise flavored liqueur

sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Have ready four 16 inch squares of parchment paper. For each serving, place a fillet in the center of the bottom half of a parchment square. Drizzle with 1 tbl. each of lemon juice and olive oil and 1/4 of the minced garlic. Add 3 tomato rounds, 3 pearl onions, 1 slice of lemon and 1 bay leaf. Sprinkle with 1/2 tsp. of sumac, then 1 tbl of raki or pernod. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the paper in half, then tightly crimp the three open sides to create a parcel. Transfer the parcel to a baking sheet. Follow the same steps for the three other squares of parchment.

Bake until the parcels look slightly puffed and the fish is opaque (open a parcel to check), about 20 minutes. Do not overcook. Place each parcel on a dinner plate and serve immediately allowing each guest to open a parcel and enjoy the aroma.

Serves 4

Notes: The original recipe calls for 1/2 cup finely chopped garlic scapes but I substituted a garlic clove. I had a package of frozen peeled pearl onions and used those. I used pernod for the anise flavored liqueuer but if you don't like anise, substitute white wine.