Recipes Discovered

Cod in a Sack Recipe

Sometimes figuring out what to make for dinner can be a challenge, especially when trying to please more than just yourself. My cousin recently gave me Rachael Ray’s 365: No Repeats Cookbook as a gift, and it’s really a great cookbook. It’s not just a book full of recipe, but it’s recipes for complete meals. It’s also not divided up into categories, so I can flip through and easily look at a variety of meal ideas. There are also ideas for alternative ingredients and substitutions. Plus, since it’s a Rachael Ray cookbook, all of the recipe are easy to follow and are designed to make cooking simple.

The first recipe I tried was titled Cod in a Sack. I love fish, but haven’t really found a lot of creative recipes. This one was a lot of fun, because the meal is built inside parchment paper. I used pieces that were about 18 inches long and then begin to layer the ingredients. First was green beans. I used fresh beans that I had snapped the ends off of, but I didn’t cut them in half. On top of the green beans, I sprinkled minced garlic and then laid a couple large pieces of roasted pepper of top of that. The first was next, which I seasoned with salt and pepper, and then scallions and chopped parsley. I drizzled olive oil and lemon juice over everything and then topped it all with some lemon zest. >>

Folding the parchment paper was a little tricky, but basically, I brought the long ends together and folded them a couple times and then folded the ends in. It didn’t appear that it would stay together, but it actually did. To be safe, I baked the packets on a cookie sheet in case any juice leaked out. The packets baked for 20 minutes and then I served the whole packet on everyones plate.

When I cut my packet open, it released a wonderful aroma of garlic and lemon. The fish looked very appealing with all the colorful vegetables under it. It also had a great taste. Everything cooked together and created a nice sauce to dip the fish in. The fish was perfectly cooked, and the vegetables were crisp tender with a nice garlicky flavor. I would have liked some more lemon zest and scallions on the fish to add some more flavor, but it was definitely a very tasty meal.

The recipe had some variations listed in the book. Pretty much any white fish could be used in place of the cod – halibut, orange roughy, tilapia, or even red snapper. The vegetables could also be swapped out for cauliflower or asparagus. Or you can create any packet that you like. It’s the method that you learn from the cookbook, which makes for a much more creative chef.