Between you and me, I usually write out the recipe right after I finish it, and then don’t look at it until I come back to finesse the blog post. This can sometimes be a few weeks, and I come back to a recipe and I’m like “I named it that? Really?”
And this. This is one of those times.
Don’t get me wrong, this recipe title is exactly what the recipe is – Broccoli Salsa Verde with Fish en Papillote, but sheesh. Could I have made it sound a little less pretentious?
To fill you in, this is just a zippy vegetable salad served on top of flakey white fish and rice. The fish is cooked in parchment paper, thus the “en papillote,” but otherwise, this recipe with a very fancy name and is nothing but very simple.
Table of contents
What is a salsa verde?
You might have seen a salsa verde pop up in a few of my other recipes, and that’s because I love how versatile this sauce can be (if we even want to call it a sauce).
Salsa verde, in its Italian version, is typically made up of capers, shallot, parsley, lemon juice and olive oil. The traditional sauce is addictive and bright, and it pairs well with so many meals and ingredients. But what I also love about this salsa is you can easily bulk it up to a full salad, but it’s just like a dressing. I also love that you can switch it up with any herbs, spices or seasonings that you feel would be a good fit.
This is a far cry from the traditional Italian version, but I still defer to a salsa verde for this, since it brings all the same bright, briny and acidic energy.
Ingredients for this broccoli salsa verde & fish en papillote bowl
This ingredient list is for the full meal, rice and all because I wanted it to be an easy dinner resource for you. Here is everything you need:
- 1 small head of broccoli
- 1 bunch of parsley, about 2 cups chopped
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 preserved lemon
- 1 tablespoon capers, drained
- 2/3 cup pickled red onions
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more as needed
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more as needed
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, plus more as needed
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 4 cod fillets
- 1 lemon, sliced thinly
- 1 cup uncooked brown rice
How to make the broccoli salsa verde
The hardest part of this salsa verde is the chopping, but from there, it’s so simple and yields big flavor. It’s so addicting that you’ll want to put this sauce on everything.
- Begin by cutting the stem from the broccoli (keep it, you can snack on it while cooking!). Use a sharp knife to chop the broccoli finely, very finely. You want no piece bigger than a pencil eraser. Move the broccoli to a large bowl.
- Cut the stems from the parsley (you can also save these, use them in salad dressings, soups, salads, etc.) and use your knife to finely chop the parsley. First chop it into pieces as you would normally chop a vegetable, then angle your knife away from you, and with one hand on the handle and the other on the top of the end of the knife blade, rock your knife back and forth in a seesaw motion. This will finely chop and macerate the parsley, you want it as fine as possible and release some of its natural moisture.
- Add the parsley to the broccoli. Use a microplane to grate the garlic into the bowl. Chop the preserved lemon into thin slices and add it as well. Roughly chop the capers and pickled red onions and add them to the bowl. Stir to combine. Add more pickled red onions and preserved lemon as you like to balance the colors.
- Pour in the olive oil, and season with salt, pepper and sugar. Stir, taste and adjust as needed. It should look like a wet broccoli salad. Set aside.
How to prepare the fish en papillote
“En Papillote” means “cooked in parchment paper.” The process is really quite easy, all you need to do is below:
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Season the cod fillets with salt and pepper. Layer three slices of lemon on each fillet.
- Using two large sheets of parchment paper, wrap up the cod into paper “pockets,” with two fillets in a pocket. Put these wrapped fillets on a baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes at 375F.
- Gently open the parchment paper and remove the lemon slices. The cod will be tender and almost buttery, handle the fillets carefully.
How to bring this broccoli salsa verde dinner together
After both components are done (I have more instructions on timing in the recipe box below) all you need to do is plate! To plate, add a scoop of your grains, then the cod fillet, and then top with the broccoli salsa verde. Serve and enjoy!
Looking for other similar recipes?
Here are a few of my current fresh favorites:
And that’s it for this Broccoli Salsa Verde with Fish En Papilotte!
If you make it, please tag me on Pinterest or Instagram so I can see! It’s my favorite thing to scroll through stories and see what you all are making.
And of course feel free to leave any questions, comments or reviews! This is the best place to reach me, and I’d love to hear from you <3
Broccoli Salsa Verde with Fish En Papilotte
Ingredients
- 1 small head of broccoli
- 1 bunch of parsley about 2 cups chopped
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1 preserved lemon
- 1 tablespoon capers drained
- 2/3 cup pickled red onions
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil plus more as needed
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt plus more as needed
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper plus more as needed
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 4 cod fillets
- 1 lemon sliced thinly
- 1 cup uncooked brown rice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Cook the brown rice, or your grain of choice, per package instructions. Let that cook while you make the rest of the recipe.
- Begin by cutting the stem from the broccoli (keep it, you can snack on it while cooking!). Use a sharp knife to chop the broccoli finely, very finely. You want no piece bigger than a pencil eraser. Move the broccoli to a large bowl.
- Cut the stems from the parsley (you can also save these, use them in salad dressings, soups, salads, etc.) and use your knife to finely chop the parsley. First chop it into pieces as you would normally chop a vegetable, then angle your knife away from you, and with one hand on the handle and the other on the top of the end of the knife blade, rock your knife back and forth in a seesaw motion. This will finely chop and macerate the parsley, you want it as fine as possible and releasing some of its natural moisture.
- Add the parsley in with the broccoli. Use a microplane to grate the garlic into the bowl. Chop the preserved lemon into thin slices and add it as well. Roughly chop the capers and pickled red onions and add them to the bowl. Stir to combine. Add more pickled red onions and preserved lemon as you like to balance the colors.
- Pour in the olive oil, and season with salt, pepper and sugar. Stir, taste and adjust as needed. It should look like a wet broccoli salad. Set aside.
- Season the cod fillets with salt and pepper. Layer three slices of lemon on each fillet.
- Using two large sheets of parchment paper, wrap up the cod into paper "pockets," with two fillets to a pocket. Put these wrapped fillets on a baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes at 375°F.
- Gently open the parchment paper and remove the lemon slices. The cod will be tender and almost buttery, handle the fillets carefully.
- To plate, add a scoop of your grains, then the cod fillet, and then top with the broccoli salsa verde. Serve and enjoy!
This was absolutely amazing as a light summer dinner. The salad was 10/10 in flavor, an added plus was pickling my own onions with lots of garlic, bay leaves, and carrot pepper. I used rock fish which was delicious and buttery. My only critique is that the salad could overshadow the fish but overall it was a delicious and fairly easy dinner.