Parchment Paper Salmon

Maybe everyone else is already familiar with this method of cooking but it was a new and wonderful discovery for me. You layer the ingredients in a large folded piece of parchment paper, fold the edges over and let it steam away in the oven. Mike and I absolutely love this recipe. And it's from Martha Stewart so it has to be good, right?


1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon salt-packed capers, rinsed well and coarsely chopped
1 tablespoon coarsely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 large russet potato, cut into 1/8-inch-thick slices
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
2 shallots, thinly sliced
3 ounces baby spinach
2 (6 ounce) fillets salmon, 1 1/2-inch thick, skinned
1 lemon, thinly sliced

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place a rimmed baking sheet in oven to heat. Cut parchment to size.
2. Stir together butter, capers, parsley, and garlic in a small bowl;
3. Divide potato slices between parchment rectangles, layering them in stacks to form a bed.
4. Top each bed of potatoes with one quarter of the shallots followed by half the spinach. Place salmon fillets on top of spinach. Divide remaining shallots evenly between packets. Top each salmon fillet with 2 lemon slices Dot with caper butter; season with salt and pepper.
5 Fold parchment paper over ingredients, at the crease. Starting with one end of the paper and keeping edges together, make small overlapping pleats the length of the paper, creasing tightly as you go and shaping the edge into an arc.

6. Bake until packets have puffed, 15 to 18 minutes.



I'll admit this doesn't look beautiful but it is delicious.