Fish has a reputation for being difficult to cook properly in a microwave. Hopefully this video will dispel that myth and show you that your microwave is not just for re-heating and ready-meals, but a valuable and versatile main tool in your cooking cabinet!

There are many fish recipes available on the internet that will give you inspiration, be it on Youtube or on food blogs.
We have found this one particularly interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fHnKJMvwCs because you can see celebrity Michelin star chef Daniel Galmiche travel to Brixham harbour in Devon to see the catch brought in. He carefully selects his fish for the recipe and then in the latter half of the video he prepares and cooks the fish. It’s cod en papillote. It’s a particularly healthy recipe and uses the traditional French technique of cooking ‘en papillote’ – sealing in the flavour and goodness within a parcel. The microwave used to cook the fish is a pre-set fish programme which only requires you to enter the weight of the fish, but you can set the controls manually if you prefer.
As you’ll see when the fish emerges and the paper parcel is unwrapped, it has retained all the juices, and looks deliciously white, not brown as you would get in a conventional oven. That’s a real bonus when cooking with white fish in a microwave. The proof of the pudding is in the eating and so the video ends with Daniel offering tasters of his cod “en papillote” to passers-by in Brixham. They all seemed to enjoy it, and were just a little surprised to know that the cooking required just three minutes in a microwave! Here is a recipe.


Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup sliced shitake mushrooms • 1 scallion, green and white parts thinly sliced • 1/3 cup fresh peas
• 1 tsp fresh ginger, minced
• 1 (6 to 8-ounce) black cod fillet • 1 tsp brown sugar • pinch of ground sea salt and cracked black pepper to taste • 1 Tbsp soy sauce • Juice and zest of half a lime

Cooking Directions:

1. Take a 15 by 36-inch piece of parchment paper (see below) and fold it in 1/2 like a book. 2. Cut out a semi-circle so that when you open up the paper again, it has a circle or oval shaped hole. 3. Lay vegetables and fish near the centre of one side of the fold. 4. Mix together sugar, salt, pepper, soy sauce, lime zest and juice. Next pour it over the cod. 5. Season the fish and then fold into a package…imagine you’re wrapping a birthday present!

6. Place parchment parcels on a microwave-safe plate and cook on high for 3-4 minutes (depending on the thickness of the fish) or use a fish programme operated by weight.

7. Remove from the microwave after cooking and serve by carefully ripping open the top of the parchment. Serve as is, but of course you don’t eat the paper!
About Parchment Paper
Parchment paper is a silicone impregnated paper. The silicone makes it grease and moisture resistant as well as relatively heat-resistant. This makes parchment paper a non-stick paper that is ideal for microwaves. Parchment paper can be found in most well-stocked grocery or supermarket stores, usually in the kitchenware section. Cooking with it requires very little or no oil making it a very healthy way to cook. The flavours are trapped inside the parchment parcel right away! You’ll notice the difference