Fish for people who don't like fish

We grew up with a mother who never cooked fish - ever - despite all of the men in our family being stellar fisherman, she just didn't go there. As a result, I am not a fish person and my sister Lizzie isn't either. I was shocked to find that there is a fish recipe I like, and maybe even love and so I feel that I have the duty to share this with any fellow fish-haters. It is from my absolute favorite cookbook, "I am Almost Always Hungry" by Laura Zarubin that has recipe names like "You buy Prada, I buy Truffles" and another menu titled "If I could only eat first courses in Italy, I would". Cooking fish in parchment paper is foolproof. We have since use this same recipe using dill and salmon and it was perfection. Highly recommend it!

Hallibut Fillet Baked in Parchment Paper

Ingredients:

12 3-inch springs of rosemary
6 halibut fillets - 1/2 lb each
olive oil


Preheat the oven to 360 degrees. Cut 4 sheets of parchment paper into 6, 12-inch squares on a work surface. Place two springs of rosemary in the center of each piece of parchment, then place a halibut fillet on top of the rosemary springs. Laura suggests having the fishmonger cut the halibut as fillets rather than as steaks. We had them cut as steaks and they were still delicious, but apparently they are flaky in a really fabulous way when you get them as fillets. Drizzle the halibut with olive oil. Bring the front and back of each piece of parchment together over the centers of each fillet. Gently fold together 3 times and then fold the end of the paper under the packets.

Place the packets in a heavy-duty baking pan and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the fish from the oven and let it rest for 5 minutes before serving.

To serve, unfold the parchment paper and gently slide a spatula under the fillets and plate them. The fish completely falls apart and is infused with the rosemary flavor. We made a lemon/Parmesan/Italian parsley pasta to go with this and it was well, really good - and remember, all words from a fish-hater here.

Fish for people who don't like fish