Spicy Parchment Hake with Mixed Vegetables

We adore fish around our house. The feller comes a running when he smells it cooking as do the cats waiting for their special treat. As part of Clean Out the Coffers March, I went through the bits and pieces that were left in my hydrator for this one. There's a list of additional vegetables you could easily use or substitute with if you had them lying around.

It's a fast dish to make, with cutting of the vegetables taking the most time. I made this, 4 servings, start to finish, including the 25 minutes of cooking, in 50 minutes. This is the sort of dish where I'll prepare the vegetables in the morning, refrigerate them and throw it together upon walking through the door at the end of a long day. Served it with steamed rice and a nice Sancere. Fabulous!

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Serves 4

Ingredients:

Spicy Sauce:
3 tsp kecap manis (sweet soy sauce*)
2 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp sriracha hot chili sauce
2 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp fresh squeezed lemon juice (bottled may be substituted)
2 tsp Shaoxing Chinese cooking wine*

Vegetables & Fish:
1 leek, cut into matchsticks, soaked in cold water to remove sand/grit
1 red bell pepper, cut into matchsticks
2-3 scallions, white and green parts cut lengthwise into matchsticks

1 small zucchini, thin lengthwise slices
6pc (1/2 bunch) Chinese choy sum
4 filets (2 pounds) wild Hake fillets (cod would be a good substitute)

sesame seeds
fresh ground pepper

lime zest
large flake kosher salt

Steamed Rice (I use a rice cooker)

Special Equipment:

2 jelly roll pans (Cookie sheet with sides)

parchment paper

Preheat oven to 350F.

Mix all of the sauce ingredients together well and set aside.

Cut a rectangle of parchment paper 3x the length of the fish fillet. Place parchment on the jelly roll pan. In the center of one half of the parchment, place one quarter of each vegetable in a pile on the parchment paper. Place a fillet of the fish on top. Pour on one quarter of the sauce, spreading over the fish fillet. Sprinkle sesame seeds over the top of the fillet and grind on some fresh ground pepper.

Fold the Parchment in

half. Starting at the folded corner, fold/roll small sections of the parchment upwards, one on top of the next, all around the three open edges. (I'll take a photo of what it looks like next time, I can't believe I didn't this time!) Once all edges are rolled, take the edges at the both ends of the folded side and tuck them under to hold the parchment in place

and keep it from unrolling.

Bake in parchment for 25 minutes. You can either serve in the individual parchment packets or slide it all out onto a plate. Before serving, grate on some fresh lime zest and sprinkle on some large flake kosher salt to taste. (Less is more with the salt.) You may also want to mix some additional kecap manis and sriracha hot chili sauce if anyone wants more of a sweet kick to dip in.

I serve with a side of steamed rice.

A few additional/ substitutable vegetables include:

pea pods

summer squash

shredded carrot

asparagus

green/yellow bell pepper

bok choy

* May be found in your local Asian market or may be ordered online from your favorite Asian supplier.

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