Fish en Papillote

Greetings from Texas! I'm back home for the week, which means that I'm learning more delicious recipes from Mama Lee. One of the dishes I learned this week was a dish she cooked for my dad on his birthday: Fish en Papillote! I know, I know...it's a silly name. But it's a french saying, so it's to be expected. En Papillote is a method of cooking in which the food is put into a folded pouch or parcel and then baked. In other words, this is a very delicious dish.

Ingredients: 

From left to right: Chilean sea bass, carrots and cabbage, butter, lemon slices, ginger,  and white wine.

1) This is probably the most difficult part: Cut a square piece of baking paper. Then, fold it in half.

2) Next, because we all love cooking, cut the folded paper into a heart! 

 * it's a big white heart

3) Make sure that the veggies are well mixed with soy sauce, pepper, salt, and thyme. Mix it real good to make sure that everything is well dispersed.

 4) Next, place the ginger on one of the halves of the heart.

 5) Now, you'll wanna place one of the fat pieces of fish right on top of the garlic, like a boss.

 6) Next, place the veggies on top of the fish. It looks as if the fish is growing a funky, progressive hairstyle.

 7) Now, you'll place the lemon slices on top of the bass' "hair." Now, it looks like the fish has two very round yellow eyes. Kinda cute actually....
In addition, you'll want to place a nice ball of butter in between the lemon slices.

 8) Channel your inner Chinese person, and fold the fish over with the other half of the baking paper. Make sure you fold the edges very tightly. I say channel your inner Chinese person because you're essentially folding the fish to resemble a gigantic yummy dumpling!

 9) Now, leaving one side of the "dumpling" unfolded, pour the wine into the vessel. That's why you need to make sure that the edges are folded tightly: that way, the wine won't leak! We're going to get drunk off wine with this dish :)

 10) Now, place the dumpling on a baking sheet. Make sure the oven is preheated to 425 degrees F.

 11) Place the fish in the oven for about 10-12 minutes. You're looking for the "dumpling" to plump up and be fat and juicy. The plumper, the juicier and more delectable the fish will be.

 12) Peek a boo! The finished product! The fish is perfectly cooked, and the smell emanating from the sheet is to die for.

* Note that the fish is now a Cyclopes!

This dish is very delicious. If you like fish, this is a perfect new way to enjoy an old classic. It's simple, easy, and doesn't take much time to cook...so you leave less of a mess in the kitchen and have more time in the day for other activities. The dish is very succulent, and the butter perfectly coats the bass to add a nice "fatty" taste.

I definitely food coma'd after eating this.

Telepan

Yesterday, my Uncle and Aunt came to visit Manhattan to view an opera. They're from Boston, so the trip wasn't too bad for them. It was great seeing them because my Uncle recently had a horrible biking accident, so seeing him in better health was heartwarming.

Not only did I see my Uncle and Aunt, but I also met the rest of their relatives that live in New York; it was nice to meet my other distant relatives. They are all very artsy and opera connoisseurs, so I tried to act as if I knew all the various operas there are. I think I succeeded, since nobody asked me if I was bluffing haha.

So we went to a restaurant on the UPPER WEST SIDE called Telepan. I was elated to find out that that was where the restaurant was located. No more traveling to the lower east side...or just the east side in general. This restaurant was very nice....when I first entered the restaurant, the light was dimmed, a sure tell sign indicating that this restaurant is high class. I wasn't expecting the place to be soo upscale; the restaurant was located in a residential area, and every residential restaurant typically is not fancy. Well, Telepan was that rare exception that served an amuse-bouche before our entrees. Like I said, it's a nice swanky restaurant.

1) This was the Amuse Bouche. It was some sort of creamy pumpkin soup with delicious bacon bits in it. I don't normally like a creamy soup, and I don't normally like pumpkin. However, this dish was very delicious. I also enjoyed the nifty little cup that held the soup; it's shaped like an espresso cup, but a little taller. I was very tempted to take it home with me.

2) This was my entree: it was called Heritage pork. Why? I'm not quite sure. What exactly does "heritage" imply? Well, based on last night's meal, I believe it's four different types of pork: crispy bacon, pork belly, pork chop, and pork loin. It was super delicious. They also had one pork rind on the top of the meat. I don't know how that relates to the dish, but I wasn't complaining. But yeah, this dish was VERY DELICIOUS. I'm glad I ordered it! 

I was very pleased with this restaurant. It had nice ambiance, great food, and when you mix all that with great company, you just have an overall good time. I will definitely be frequenting this place in the future!

Au revoir, mon frere's  :)