Tag Archives: en papillote

September 6, 2014 · 2:03 PM

Curried Chicken, Peppers, and Peas en Papillote

It may be Saturday, but today we’re talking about French Fridays with Dorie! I have several recipes to catch you up on, but right now I am going to focus on the recipe the group made this week: Curried Chicken, Peppers, and Peas en Papillote.

There are several “en papillote” recipes in Around My French Table. This one is a main dish with chicken, red onion, bell peppers, and peas, seasoned with curry powder.

I had made this dish a few years ago, and remember liking it, but wished it had a creamier sauce. I felt it was a little dry. So I made a change this time around: in place of the olive oil, I used 3/4 cup coconut milk. Strangely, the creaminess of the coconut milk disappeared in the cooking process, but the flavor remained. And the resulting chicken was very moist.

This was a delicious dinner the whole family enjoyed. The packets of chicken and vegetables are the perfect portion. I was happy with my addition of coconut milk. The flavors blended very nicely with the Balinese Turmeric Coconut Rice I made.

I have a couple more French Fridays recipes to catch you up on…hopefully you will be seeing those in the next few days.

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Tagged as chicken, cooking, en papillote, French Fridays

April 18, 2014 · 9:16 PM

Baby Bok Choy en Papillote + Quiche Maraîchère

It’s Friday once again, and I actually made the “assigned” French Fridays with Dorie recipe this week! I also caught up on last week’s recipe. I’m on a roll! Since I’m so close to being completely caught up on every FFWD recipe (only 6 to go!), I am determined.

This week I celebrated Spring with two dishes that are chock-full of vegetables: Baby Bok Choy, Sugar Snaps, and Garlic en Papillote and Quiche Maraîchère.

Baby Bok Choy, Sugar Snaps, and Garlic en Papillote

This week we returned to the traditional French method of cooking in packets of parchment paper or foil. This time it was some unexpected vegetables inside these packets: baby bok choy, sugar snap peas, baby onions, and garlic. The veggies were seasoned with orange zest, salt and pepper, and moistened with a bit of olive oil.

I tried an experiment. I made two packets of veggies in parchment paper. Then I put the rest of the vegetables in a baking dish covered in foil. Would there be a difference in taste?

It was close! The vegetables in the baking dish took a little bit longer to cook and weren’t quite as moist. The veggies cooked en papillote were slightly browned and a touch more flavorful. But overall, there wasn’t a big difference. If you are cooking this for a crowd, the baking dish method would be perfectly acceptable.

So, did we like it? I liked it a lot. The vegetables were perfectly cooked: tender, but not mushy. My husband liked the snap peas, but isn’t a fan of bok choy and this dish did nothing to change his mind. My daughter gave it a baby taste and then didn’t touch it again.

Quiche Maraîchère

In Dorie’s words, Quiche Maraîchère is “packed to the brim with celery, leeks, carrots, and little squares of red pepper”. The word maraîchère means “truck farmer”, and when the word is used in a recipe name, you know that fresh vegetables are used. In this quiche, there is only just enough custard filling to (barely) hold the vegetables together. It is topped with Gruyere cheese part-way through cooking.

This quiche was quite tasty! I enjoyed it very much as a simple dinner with salad on the side. My husband enjoyed it too, but wished there had been more eggs in the mix (there was only one and a half). If you are looking for a vegetarian-friendly quiche, this one is a winner!

Both these recipes can be found in Dorie Greenspan’s wonderful book, Around My French Table.

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Tagged as baby bok choy, cooking, en papillote, French Fridays, Maraîchère, quiche, sugar snap peas

February 1, 2013 · 3:10 PM

Brown-Sugar Squash and Brussels Sprouts en Papillote

After two weeks of making French Fridays with Dorie recipes for myself, it was nice to be able to make something for the whole family. Since butternut squash and Brussels sprouts are two of my husband’s very favorite vegetables, I knew this would be a hit (also, I had made this before so it was a proven success).

This is such a simple dish to throw together! Cubed squash, halved Brussels sprouts, and cubed apple are tossed with a bit of olive oil and salt & pepper, then divided between foil or parchment paper packets. Top each with a little brown sugar and a sage leaf, then bake and serve!

I made this two years ago and wrote a tutorial about the process. Check it out if you are interested.

As expected this was a hit with the whole family. I should make this more often since it is so easy and delicious!

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Tagged as Brussels sprouts, butternut squash, cooking, en papillote, French Fridays

February 11, 2011 · 8:00 AM

Cooking En Papillote – A Tutorial

I did not make this week’s recipe for French Fridays with Dorie (Orange-Almond Tart) for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that we simply don’t need an extra dessert around the house. Instead, I am doing something a little different…

A few weeks ago I made Brown-Sugar Squash and Brussels Sprouts en Papillote as part of my French Table Feast. While the dish was super simple and delicious to make, I felt the vague instructions for making the packets were a little inadequate. I have cooked “en papillote” using another recipe with more complete instructions, so I used those instructions this time as well. I took pictures of the process to create this tutorial. As usual, you can click the pictures to see a larger view.

En papillote is a method of cooking where the food is wrapped in sealed packet and placed in the oven. The food is steamed inside the packet as it cooks. Either parchment paper or aluminum foil can be used, although I prefer to use parchment paper.

Step 1: Prepare your ingredients.

1. Prepare the ingredients

Step 2: Cut squares of parchment paper or aluminum foil into squares at least 12″ x 12″. Mine ended up about 15″ x 12″ because my parchment paper came in a 15″ wide roll.

2. Cut squares out of parchment

Step 3: Fold the paper in half. If the paper isn’t quite a square, fold it perpendicular to the longer side. In other words, after folding, my pieces measured 7.5″ x 12″.

3. Fold parchment in half

Step 4: Cut a rough heart shape out of your folded paper.

4. Cut a heart shape

Step 5: Unfold the papers and place them on a work surface. Some recipes have you brush them with melted butter or olive oil. Divide your ingredients among the papers, placing them to one side of the center fold.

5. Place ingredients on paper

Step 6: Refold the paper over the ingredients. Starting at one end of the fold, crimp along the open edge to seal the packets. I did a couple of small folds along the edges to crimp. Be sure to leave room around the ingredients so they can steam.