It's in the Papers

Salmone Aromatico Avvolto in Pasta di Riso con Barbabietole, Zucchine e Piselli 

Aromatic Salmon wrapped in Rice Paper with Beetroot, Zucchini and Snow Peas

Time to try my hand at doing something a little different and exciting with fish... you guessed it- it's Friday night in Frankfurt! The weather is surprisingly mild- sunny and warm and demanding something fresh and light for supper. And as usual, I have a few leftover bits and pieces I want to use up... So here we go- quick, colorful and very, very tasty- what a good way to start the weekend! 

I wanted to give the fish a nice blast of flavor- I had ginger, cilantro, garlic and spring onion in mind, but wasn't sure of how to go about it. The fish I was using was salmon, so another aspect that had me concerned, was the fact that it quickly gets overcooked and becomes flaky and dry. And then I had a sudden flash of inspiration!


Next I finely chopped the garlic, spring onions, cilantro and a little parsley, added a little chili, sea salt and pepper- and had a lovely aromatic topping for the fish. next step was to briefly soak the rice paper sheets in water ready to use. I then took the salmon and drizzled a little honey on to it and then sprinkled it generously with the chopped ingredients, which of course stuck nicely to the honey. I then ley the fish, face-down onto the center of the rice-paper and folded it into a parcel. I did find that the sheets were a little too large for the size of the fish I wanted to wrap- so I trimmed it down with a pair of kitchen scissors... easy.

The fish-parcels went into a moderately hot frying pan with a little clarified butter from the reverse side first (the one with no herb coating), where I let them fry for 2-3 minutes until the rice paper became firm and started to brown slightly. I then flipped them over and gave them a further 2 minutes at a higher temperature to give them a little color, As soon as they were done, I popped them into the oven to keep them warm, whilst I quickly sautéed the vegetables and got ready to serve!

The beet root was the final leftover from 2 nights ago- and so that was pre-cooked and just needed slicing and warming through. The zucchini I sliced and sautéed with a little garlic, until it was lightly brown. And the snow peas were simply tossed in a little butter and sugar to give them a nice glaze.

The combination of flavors was crisp, clean and light- a squeeze of lemon and a drop of sweet chili sauce and dinner is served- lightly exotic and very delicious! Enjoy!