Miso Sea Bass In Parchment Paper

📋 Ingredients Notes

Here is a quick look at the ingredients in the recipe – it’s handy to use at the grocery store or as a summary of what you need. Skip to the recipe for quantities.

• butter
• sesame oil
• fresh ginger
• garlic
• fresh shiitake
• mushroom, fish, or chicken broth/stock
• sake or rice wine
• light miso
• Chilean sea bass – My favorite fish for this fish in parchment is Chilean sea bass, but it’s expensive. Use your favorite sustainably-sourced firm white fish. I especially like sustainable sourced barramundi fillets.
• sugar snap peas
• red, yellow, or orange bell pepper

📹 Folding Parchment Video

🔪 Instructions

• Preparation – Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Julienne bell pepper, thin-slice the shiitake, mince the garlic and ginger, pat dry the fish portions.
• Make the miso and mushroom sauce – To a medium sauté pan over medium high heat, add butter, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, and sliced shiitake. Stir-fry until mushrooms are soft. Add the broth/stock, sake and miso. Reduce heat to low, and simmer while you prep your fish packets.
• Prepare the fish packets – If using parchment sheets, place a fish portion in the center. If using parchment bags, this is even easier. Simply add the fish to a bag. Arrange half of the sugar snap peas, and half of the bell pepper strips. The shiitake-ginger mixture should be reduced to about ½ to ¾ cup. Spoon half over the fish. Repeat with the other fish portion.
• NOTE – If using parchment sheets rather than bags, fold in half diagonally (see video for help).
• Cook the fish packets – Place the prepared packets in a casserole that barely accommodates them. Place in the hot oven. Cook 10-15 minutes. See notes.
• Serve – Either serve in the parchment wrapper by carefully cutting an opening in the top, or carefully remove the fish and veggies from their wrappers, and plate them. Serve with your favorite side and enjoy!

💭 Tips

If fresh shiitake are not available, you can substitute dried shiitake, but you’ll need to rehydrate them first. 

A general rule of thumb is to cook fish 10 minutes per inch of thickness. This Fish Cooking Guide is helpful.

🍷 Pairing Suggestions

Our favorite side dish with Shiitake and Ginger Fish In Parchment Paper is my Asian Mashed Potatoes. Boiled new potatoes get smashed with roasted garlic, wasabi, plain yogurt, broth, and tamari, and then garnished with furikake and chopped scallions. It makes an elegant and tasty meal with relatively little time spent in the kitchen… We can all appreciate a meal like that!

We enjoyed our anniversary dinner with a very dry Spanish rosé – Los Dos – a cabernet sauvignon and garnacha blend. Delicioso!