Sara’s Weeknight Meals: Season 04

The French popularized cooking fish “en papillote” which translates loosely as fish in a bag. It’s a smart way to cook fish because not only do you end up with perfectly cooked moist fish, but also you gain a flavor packed sauce that’s created when all the ingredients in the bag give off their juices.

I start off with my version of this cooking method, layering salmon with thin slices of orange, lemon, rosemary and serrano chiles and then show you how to fold the bag so that no juices escape while the fish is being baked.

Then, Mark Vetri does an Italian spin on this dish, cooking the traditional pasta with clam sauce in a bag in the oven. I love that dish when it is cooked on top of the stove, but his baked version is even more spectacular.