Sole in Parchment with Shaved Vegetables - Pretty Elegant for a Tuesday

We were fortunate to have Walter's parents in town last week for Spring Break, and had a great time visiting and catching up with them.  They both have been great supporters of my blogging endeavor, and were kind enough to bring me the new Lee Brothers cookbook The Lee Bros. Charleston Kitchen.  This is another one of those beautiful cookbooks where every page has something you want to try.

After our somewhat decadent Easter dinner, Walter requested something a little lighter for Tuesday's family dinner.  A specific recipe stood out to me for Flounder in Parchment with Shaved Vegetables (recipe to follow).

When I was growing up, my paternal grandparents, Grandma and Papa, had a second home in South Texas not too far from where I grew up in Harlingen.  Oftentimes, when they would fly into town on Friday nights, they would pick me up, and I was the lucky girl who got spoiled by them for the weekend.  One of their favorite restaurants was a seafood restaurant whose name escapes me (something like the Pelican or Pelican's Beacon) that I thought it was so fancy.  This was back in the '80s so it had plenty of wood paneling, and a darker ambiance.  The first time I had fish served in parchment was there, and I thought it was just about the fanciest thing I had ever had.  It was a stuffed fish with crabmeat.  Isn't it funny how certain things can conjure up a memory?

So of all the recipes in this cookbook, I kept flipping back to this one as the one to try first.  This is a delicious and guest-worthy dish, so we felt a little fancy last night.

RECIPE:  Flounder in Parchment with Shaved Vegetables

Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon dry white wine (sauvignon blanc or pinot grigio)
2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
kosher salt
2 ounces chainey briar (or 3 stalks of asparagus, shaved lengthwise with a vegetable peeler)
2 ounces radishes (about 3) shaved with a vegetable peeler
4 sheets of parchment paper
4 (4 to 6 oz) fillets of skinless flounder, or other tender white-fleshed fish, such as sole or snapper
3 tablespoons unsalted butter cut in 8 pats
1 lemon cut in 8 slices
freshly ground pepper
1 large egg white

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2.  In a shallow bowl, whisk the olive oil with the white wine, white wine vinegar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Add the chainey briar and radishes, toss to coat with the dressing, and reserve.

3.  For each of the fillets, fold the parchment paper in half lengthwise so it opens like a book, with the seam at the left.  Place a fillet with its leftmost, longest edge in the crease of the seam and centered vertically.  Season each fillet with 2 pinches of salt.  Put 2 pats of butter and 2 slices of lemon on top of each fillet.  Grind some black pepper over the fish.

4.  Make the egg wash by whisking the egg white with 1 tablespoon of water. Brush the three open edges of the bottom layer of parchment with the wash, and lay the top side of the parchment over the fish top.  Press on the edges of the parchment to seal.  Lift the bottom left corner of the parchment up, and fold it over crisply to create a small triangular fold.  Then place your index finger in the center of the long edge of the that fold, and make another triangular fold.  Continue folding the edge of the paper from the middle of the previous fold until you've sealed up the fish in a half moon-shaped package.

5.  When all the parchment packages are sealed, put them on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let rest for 3 minutes.  Toss the chainey briar and radishes again in the dressing, then cut each packet open.  Working quickly, remove the lemon slices (if desired) and strew a portion of the chainey briar and radishes over the fish, and serve immediately, placing each packet of fish directly on a dinner plate.

(Courtesy of The Lee Bros Charleston Kitchen  by Matt Lee and Ted Lee)

After visiting the fish market, they did not have any skinless flounder, so I opted for some very fresh sole fillets.  This is a great preparation method for sole, which is extremely delicate.  Until I read this recipe, and then did a Google search, I had no idea what chainey briar was.  Apparently it is a vine found most predominantly in Florida, and is a relative to asparagus.  I used asparagus.  With the radishes, I used my mandolin slicer, and sliced them at 1/8 inch.  I am not a huge radish fan, so having them in thinner slices, helped temper the bitterness.

The parchment paper keeps the fish and all the delicious cooking juices contained in one neat little package.  The acidity of the asparagus and radish garnish added even more depth, and added some beautiful color contrast.  The hardest and most stressful part of making this dish is the folding of the parchment paper.  Once you do a couple, you will get the hang of it.