I've been wanting to try this technique for some time, and then one night this week the stars aligned and everything worked out for me to do it. Salmon was on sale and I had plenty of parchment paper, vermouth and vegetables on hand.
Originally, I was going to use this recipe from Alton Brown, but I couldn't find leeks (strange). So, not knowing how much that would throw off the flavor palette I decided to go rogue. I used zucchini, lemons, salt, pepper, a little garlic, shallots and vermouth with the salmon. From start to finish the whole process took about fifteen minutes. I stacked the zucchini on the bottom, then the shallots and garlic, followed by the salmon (seasoned with s&p) and finally the lemons and vermouth. Wrapped it all up in the heart-shaped parchment paper and popped it in the nuker for four minutes.
For so little effort and time, the result was stupendous. The zucchini was actually my favorite part. Sitting on the bottom made it absorb all the flavors. Good beyond words.
The fact that the zucchini absorbed so much flavor, made me reconsider my stacking technique for next time. I placed the salmon skin-side down on the veggies. Next time, I will probably do skin side up, so the fish can get more flavor. The salmon had a great deal of the lemon flavor but much of the vermouth/shallots/garlic flavors sank to the bottom away from the fillet.
One other thing I love about this technique is that it makes clean-up so easy. Just toss the parchment paper when done eating. No pots. No pans. No fish stuck to a pan. And the plates just needed a minimal quick scrub to get the juices off.
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