Salmon en papillote with carrots, fennel & tarragon sauce

Do you remember Salmon en Papillotte – a dish quite prominently featured in the 90s?

This version comes straight from the Kichechef cookbooks of the 90s, where the salmon was cooked in a foil bag by Michelin-starred chef Tony Tintinger. I’ve decided to swap add some fragrant tarragon to the sauce and swap the foil for parchment paper.

It’s still a Salmon en Papillotte — just a bit more modern.

As part of Kichechef’s 50th anniversary, I’m going back to their 90s cookbooks to see which recipes still hold up today.

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Ingredients

For the sauce:
80ml white wine
1 small shallot, finely chopped
200ml fish stock
Juice of ¼ lemon
1 ½ tsp cornstarch
50ml cream
20g butter
1 tbsp fresh tarragon, chopped
A pinch of sugar

2 salmon fillets
1 medium carrot, thinly sliced
½ small fennel bulb, very thinly sliced
20g pine nuts, lightly toasted
Olive oil
Salt & pepper

Method

Reinterpretation of Tony Tintinger’s recipe

Serves 2

Make the sauce. Simmer the white wine and the shallot for 2 minutes until slightly reduced.

Add the fish stock and lemon juice and cook for 5 minutes minutes.

Strain the liquid, discarding the solids, then put back on the heat.

Mix the cornstarch with the cream and add to the sauce with the butter, tarragon and a pinch of sugar. Cook until slightly thickened, then season with salt and pepper.

Preheat the oven to 200°C fan.

Put the carrot and fennel in a bowl. Drizzle with a bit of olive oil, season with salt and pepper, then divide between two pieces of parchment paper.

Season the salmon fillets with salt and pepper and place on top of the vegetables.

Spoon over 2 tablespoons of the sauce, then seal each parchment to create a parcel.

Bake the fish in the preheated oven for 15 minutes.

Open the parcels, plate the fish and the vegetables, pour over more sauce and sprinkle with toasted pine nuts.