Mussel en Papilotte
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 8
- Total Time: 23 minutes
- Yield: 4
- Category: 30-Minutes; easy; Fish & Seafood; French; Light meals
Description
En papillote [on poppy-yote] is French for ‘in parchment’ as the food prepared this way is steamed in paper. It’s a healthy and simple way of steaming food that keeps its flavour. It should be presented wrapped in the pocket so that the aromatic steam is released when opened.
Ingredients
Vegetables
2 baby fennel bulbs, sliced
4 spring onions, sliced
8 baby carrots cut in half lengthways
1 stick celery, sliced
½ a red onion, sliced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
8 sprigs fresh lemon thyme or thyme
2 bay leaves, halved
Mussels
4 x 300 g fresh mussels, cleaned (1.2 kg in total)
salt and black pepper
4 slices lemon or lime
60 g butter
4 tsp (20 ml) white wine
parchment paper, cut into 4 large circles, lightly buttered or oiled on both sides
Instructions
Vegetables
Cook the vegetables for 2 minutes in salted water. Divide the vegetables into four equal portions and arrange on one half of each piece of parchment paper (pre-cooking is optional).
Add 2 sprigs of thyme and half a bay leaf to each package.
Mussels
Preheat the oven to 220 °C. Place a baking tray into the oven to preheat.
Place the mussels on top of the vegetables and season. Place a lemon or lime slice and a knob of butter on top of each and drizzle with a teaspoon of white wine.
Fold the other half of the parchment over the food. Crimp the edges securely, making a series of small folds all around to seal the package so that steam cannot escape.Place the parcels on a preheated baking tray and bake in the oven for 5-8 minutes. The parchment package will puff up and turn brown.
Place each package on a plate and let guests open them, being careful of the escaping steam. Serve with fresh-cut, crispy fries.
