Salmon with Spinach, Citrus, and Fennel – En Papillote

Take a gorgeous center-cut piece of salmon, brush it with a rich, buttery olive oil and place it on bed of fresh spinach along with fragrant aromatics of fennel and shallots. Top the salmon with slices of orange and fonds of fennel, then wrap everything up in a packet made of parchment paper. As the salmon bakes, the packet puffs up and you’ll have the most delectable, succulent piece of salmon.

I once had someone tell me that if it couldn’t be cooked in 30 minutes or less, they probably wouldn’t make it. I’m sure there might be a need for an intervention for such logic, but I love her dearly, so I’ll let this slight against my love for cooking slide. If you resemble this remark, and in all honesty at some point in time we all do, this is for you. En papillote is a French method of cooking food in a packet, one that is often made of folded parchment paper. And though the method is not necessarily easy to pronounce, it’s quite easy to do!

Start with center-cut salmon, I normally tell the fish monger to cut the pieces about “three fingers” in width – about 4 ounces. Place about 2 cups of fresh spinach on the parchment paper, along with shallots and fennel plus a sprinkling of orange juice. Top with the salmon fillet, brushed with olive oil and seasoned with kosher salt and pepper, followed by slices of fresh orange and fennel fronds.

Make yourself a single serving or a dozen. If you want to prepare the salmon in advance, use a sheet of foil instead of parchment paper – it will hold up better to the juice from the citrus. Just lightly spray the foil with a cooking spray to prevent the spinach and salmon from sticking. You can assemble the pouches and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight. Let the packets rest at room temperature for about 15 to 20 minutes to take the chill off the salmon so it cooks evenly.

You can serve the salmon still resting in the packets or remove and plate. Either way it makes an absolutely wonderful dish.

Salmon with Spinach, Citrus, and Fennel – En Papillote

For each serving:

2 cups fresh spinach

8 to 10 rings of sliced shallot

8 to 10 slices of cored fennel bulb

2 teaspoons orange juice

½ teaspoon kosher salt

¼ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper

1 center-cut salmon fillet, about 4-ounces, about 1-½  inches in thickness

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 orange slices

2 small pieces of fennel fronds*

Preheat the oven to 400-degrees.

For each piece of salmon, tear off a sheet of parchment paper, about 20” in length. Place the fresh spinach on the parchment paper, leaving about ⅔ of the paper to fold over the salmon.

Top the spinach with the sliced shallot and fennel, sprinkle each with ¼ teaspoon kosher salt and ⅛ teaspoon pepper. Drizzle the orange juice over the top.

Place the salmon fillet on the bed of spinach and brush with olive oil. Sprinkle the salmon with the remaining ¼ teaspoon kosher salt and ⅛ teaspoon black pepper.

Top the salmon with the orange slices, then place the fennel fronds across the top of the oranges. (*If you can’t find fennel with the fronds still attached, you can add additional sliced fennel to the top of the salmon, or skip this step.)

Fold the longer half of the parchment paper over the salmon, evening up the edges. Then starting at the corner, fold pleats in the paper, crimping to close the paper around the salmon, creating a packet. Place the packet on a rimmed baking sheet and bake at 400-degrees for 20 minutes – 18 minutes if you like the salmon a little pink in the center.

Serve in the packet or remove and plate.