Recipe 2: Zesty Lemon Tuna En Papillote

For recipe No. 2, I present you with a recipe I saw on 5 Ingredient Fix on the Food Network the other day. This recipe uses the traditional french method of cooking known as en papillote. It essentially translates as cooking 'in parchment'. In this method the moisture of the food in the paper is used to self-steam.

Ingredients:
~ 1-2 Tuna Steaks
~ 2 Lemons
~ Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Zest the lemons and then slice them thinly. Place a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet. Place the lemons on the paper to form a bed of lemons. Place the tuna steaks atop the lemons. Top tuna with zest and salt and pepper to taste. Wrap up the paper into a tight envelope. Bake until fully cooked and tuna flakes with a fork. The recipe I followed said 18-20 minutes, but it was more like 30 for me.

Verdict:
Awesome! Absolutely Awesome! The tuna was infused with an intense lemony flavor. It was incredibly easy and incredibly good. The kitchen was filled with a wonderful lemony smell. Definitely a keeper!

On the food network they were using this tuna for a tuna salad - I plan to use the remainder of my supper for tuna salad later this week!

When I checked the recipe again I noticed that they suggested seasoning both sides of the tuna with salt and pepper. I would recommend doing that next time. I would also consider adding some other aromatic herbs.

Upon further research I found where they suggest that cooking in this method not be used for steaky seafood -- it takes longer to cook -- as I learned today. I still recommend it if you've got the time.

Last year one of my culinary goals was to cook more seafood for myself. I'm glad to say that i did cook fish a few times last year. I'm hoping to continue exploring seafood again this year. This tuna got the ball rolling!