Want a healthy meal to make, but don't want to spend hours cooking? Try this delicious salmon recipe!

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 pounds salmon, cut into 4 pieces
  • 1 small zucchini, thinly sliced
  • 1 head fennel, thinly sliced, fronds reserved for garnish
  • 2 lemon, thinly sliced
  • 1 tsp dried dill
  • 4 tsp Extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 1/2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
  • parchment paper

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
  2. Cut the parchment into 4 large ovals 15” by 10” inches. And fold in half.
  3. On half of each parchment, layer on ¼ of the zucchini, ¼ the fennel, 1 piece of salmon, sprinkle with ¼ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper, ¼ teaspoon dill, and lemon slices. Drizzle each salmon with 1 teaspoon olive oil and a few pieces of fennel fronds. Repeat with the three remaining salmon fillets.
  4. Close the parchment by folding the other half over the prepared salmon and carefully roll the open edges toward the salmon in the center.
  5. Set the pouches on a baking sheet and bake on the center rack for 15 minutes.
  6. Open carefully using a fork and serve with more fennel fronds as a garnish.

Notes:

How to Wrap Salmon in Parchment Paper:

All puffed up and fragrant, just billowing with steam, salmon in parchment paper looks so elegant when served that it gives the impression that it’s complicated to prepare, but it's really not. Wrapping the salmon in parchment paper is quite simple. A lot of people cut the parchment into a heart shape, but we simply cut a large oval and it worked just fine. Here’s how to make salmon en papillote:

  1. Cut a piece of parchment paper (or foil) into a large oval shape, keeping in mind that in order to create a packet, you’ll be folding it in half around your fish and vegetables.
  2. Fold the parchment sheet in half to make a clean, sharp crease in the paper, and open it back up.
  3. Fill the parchment packet (or foil is OK, too). Working near the crease that you made—but clearly on one side of it—lay your thinly-sliced zucchini and fennel down first, then top them with a salmon fillet (skin side down). Top the salmon with dill, lemon slices, salt, pepper and a good drizzle of olive oil.
  4. Fold it up! Make lots of little folds about every inch, working at 45-degree angles and aiming for a tight seal and a half-moon shape. Moist heat inside the parchment packet is what cooks the salmon, and a tightly-sealed packet is the key to creating that lovely, steamy cooking environment.
hands folding in edges of parchment paper to seal salmon in
salmon in parchment paper