Broccoli Salsa Verde with Fish En Papilotte
Two cuisines, one amazingly easy dinner. I've been on a roll with easy dinners lately, and this one is no exception. This is a riff on salsa verde, with broccoli and pickled onions as the star. The broccoli salad is then paired with a bright, lemony cod you cook in parchment paper, making this one of the simplest, classiest dinners you'll put on your weeknight list.
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!