French Fridays with Dorie - Salmon and Nectarines En Papillote

En papillote is quite a popular method of cooking in this household. Wrap a piece of meat or fish in parchment paper or foil, pop it in the oven, set the timer and forget about it for a while. Exactly our kind of effortless cooking! So luckily for us, this week's French Fridays with Dorie recipe, Salmon and Tomatoes En Papillote, urged us to employ this method for baking our salmon. It was no major hardship and produced a result that was quite satisfying.

My concession this week was to use firm nectarines in place of cherry tomatoes, because I couldn't be bothered to run out to the store again to get them. I said 'again' because the first trip out was to buy the salmon fillets, during which I of course promptly forgot the said tomatoes (too many things to remember, as we are in the midst of moving house right now). But the nectarines were rather good as substitutes because the ones I had were semi-ripe and retained some of their tartness, yet at the same time were a touch sweeter than tomatoes.

Fresh herbs from my garden

I plucked purple basil, regular Thai basil and spring onions from my tiny garden. While I often wished for a bigger herb garden, I can't complain much because it has been really good to me, especially in situations like this. Besides, I couldn't manage a bigger variety of herbs because I have so-called 'warm hands'.... most of what I sow don't tend to survive past the seedling stage. 

So I have this trick that I play against Mother Nature. It's rather sneaky but I have no choice... what I normally do is get my mother to successfully sow the seeds and re-pot seedlings, then when they are sturdy enough for me to handle, I hijack them and take them home! Some have survived, but some, like my rosemary and dill, have stubbornly refused to be nurtured by these warm hands.

I wouldn't say the flavors of this dish wowed me too much, though it wasn't all that bad, really. I thought it lacked a certain je ne sais quoi, maybe it's the garlic which I always, always sprinkle on my salmon... but didn't this time round (see, I was good at adhering to most of Dorie's specifications!).

Anyhow, I'm setting this post to a scheduled posting date because by the time today rolls around, I'll probably be shoulder-deep in packing boxes, unpacking things into their proper nook at our new space. I can't wait to share my new kitchen with you. It's not the gleaming counters and shiny gadgets I'm most excited about....it's actually the astounding amount of natural light that streams into the kitchen via huge, glass sliding doors! LOL, now you and I know only food bloggers will say something like that :-). 

Have a great weekend, everyone! We'll catch up again whenever...wherever.