Tom Walton – Fish In A Bag
Fish In A Bag
Serves 4
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Cooking in a bag is one of the simplest and delicious ways to cook fish.
Locking in the flavour and moisture. It gives novice cooks a little flexibility as it’s hard to ‘overcook’. For entertaining, it has a wow factor and you can prep it all ahead as well, do a first cook about an hour before, then just pop it back in the oven and reheat for 5 minutes. Leaving you less stressed and busy when you have guests.
Ingredients:
3 medium Desiree potato
Salt, pepper
4 tbsp olive oil
1 cup baby spinach leaves or shredded silverbeet
4 x 160g barramundi fillet, skin on or off – Salmon or snapper also works well
¼ cup white wine
¼ cup crushed tinned tomato or passata
½ punnet grape tomatoes
2 tbsp sliced kalamata olives
2 tbsp picked dill to serve (optional)
lemon to serve
Step 1 Slice the potato into 5mm rounds, place in a pot, cover with cold water, a pinch of salt and bring to the boil. Turn down and simmer for 5 minutes then drain gently and allow to steam dry.
Step 2 Tear 4 large pieces of foil and baking paper about 40cm long and place the baking paper on top of the foil. Lay two rows the potato slices in the middle, slightly overlapping, you want about 4 slices in each portion, long enough to sit the barramundi fillet on.
Step 3 Season the potato with salt and pepper and drizzle with 2 tbsp olive oil. Scatter the grape tomatoes around the potato and then top the potato with some fennel, spinach leaves and the barramundi.
Step 4 Season the barramundi fillet, and drizzle with 1 tbsp olive oil then pour over the wine, crushed tomato, grape tomatoes and olives. Wrap the baking paper securely around the fillet then do the same with the foil, making a loose, secure parcel.
Step 5 If doing in advance, leave in the fridge, otherwise preheat the oven to 200C and place the fish bag onto a baking tray and bake for 20-25 minutes.
Step 6 Let rest for 5 minutes then open the foil and lift the parcel carefully onto a plate. Open the baking paper, drizzle with the final 1 tbsp olive oil and serve with dill and lemon.
Tom Walton is a young, accomplished chef with a passion for health, fitness, lifestyle and wellbeing. He is the founder and executive chef of The Bucket List in Bondi, Deus Bar & Kitchen in Camperdown and Nudefish Poke in three Sydney locations.
