This recipe is adapted from Rachel Roddy’s fish baked al cartoccio, which as she explains means ‘in paper’, the French call it en papillote. Cooking al cartoccio creates a flavoursome soft texture with the steam creating a frothy scented sauce inside the paper parcel.

We used haddock loins which are available in Sainsbury’s – Taste The Difference range, approximately £7 for two.

You will need baking paper and a baking tray or oven proof dish

Ingredients:

• 1 large beefsteak tomato
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 fish fillets (110g-140g per person)
• olives
• capers
• fennel seeds (or fronds)
• vine ripened tomatoes
• lemon
• olive oil
• parsley

Step by step:

Step 1

Heat your oven to 200C (180C fan), gas 6 and prepare four squares of baking paper approximately 23cm x 23cm.

Peel the large tomato. Simply cover it in boiling water for a couple of minutes and then plunge it into cold water and the skin should peel away easily. Remove any seeds or hard white bits and chop finely.

Step 2

Peel the garlic cloves and cut them into very thin slices. Rub the centre of the baking paper with olive oil and place the fish in the centre. Add the tomato, slivers of garlic, olives, capers and fennel seeds. Season to taste.

Step 3

Make the fish parcel by lifting the edges of the baking paper and folding them into the centre. Place them on your baking sheet, or in the oven proof dish and cook for 15-20 minutes. The fish will be cooked through and poached in delicious tomato, olive and garlic and caper flavoured juice

Roddy suggests serving the fish with rice or couscous. We opted for vegetables and my current favourite Sweet Potato Fries, also available from Sainsbury’s – Taste The Difference range £3.80 for 300g enough to serve 2.

Notes and Tips:

Whilst you can serve the fish al cartoccio and let guests undo the parcel, we prefer to serve it unwrapped with parsley butter and a good extra glug of olive oil.

We serve the fish with a small pot of tartar sauce, mayonnaise or aioli.