Take twine and a few sheets of parchment paper and you have the equipment you need to cook a dish in parchment paper. There is no gentler cooking process. The dish cooks as if in a cocoon, all nutrients are retained 100 percent. Cooking in baking paper – alternatively you can also use cooking parchment – is quick and healthy and can be wonderfully prepared. The furnace does most of the work. In other words: The cooking method of choice when you have guests and don’t want to spend half the evening in the kitchen.
Let’s get down to business. Our first recipe suggestion today: Autumn vegetables, cooked in baking paper. Serve with toasted bread and cheese, for example. For four people you need: six shallots, peeled, halved. 250 grams of carrots, peeled, sliced and cut into small strips. 200 grams zucchini, also cut into slices and strips. 150 grams of celery. First remove the leaves. Then use a small knife and your thumb and forefinger to peel off the outer fibers. Then cut into 3 cm pieces. You will also need: three small beetroots (100 grams each). Please peel and quarter. Be sure to wear gloves when peeling beetroot, otherwise there will be stains. Last but not least: five tablespoons of canola oil. Rosemary, plucked from four sprigs. sea salt or fleur de sel. Pepper. A lemon.
Place the vegetables in a bowl and mix with the canola oil, salt and pepper. Spread it in the middle of two large sheets of parchment paper that you have spread out in front of you in the shape of a rectangle. Fold the parchment paper over the veggies, wrap them in the paper and tie the sides tight with twine to resemble a giant candy wrapped in parchment paper. In the meantime, you have preheated the oven to 180 degrees top and bottom heat. Push in the vegetable drop for 30 to 35 minutes. Please do not unwrap before serving, instead: Place on a large oval plate, leave the twine on, cut the paper lengthways at the top, open and sprinkle with lemon zest. So put the dish in the middle of the table. It is ideal as an accompaniment to fish or meat. Complement the veggies with potatoes and you have a top-notch main course. A lemon crème fraîche or aioli is recommended as a dip.
Many people shy away from preparing fish because it could burn. The solution: Cook fish in baking paper, such as salmon. For four people you need: four pieces of 130 grams each. 150 grams of mixed herbs. Sea-salt. Four tablespoons of olive oil. A lemon, sliced.
Preheat the oven to 150 degrees top and bottom heat. Take two sheets of parchment paper. Place the lemons in the center, then the fish skin-side down. Season with sea salt, spread the herbs on top, then the oil. Fold in, tie up the sides and put in the oven for 12 to 15 minutes. That’s it already. Serve with a lemon dip, salad or mashed potatoes. Enjoy your meal!
Walter Stemberg and his son Sascha run the star restaurant “Haus Stemberg” in Velbert, whose star was confirmed in the Michelin guide for the ninth year in a row. In 2021, the house was awarded “Restaurant of the Year 2021” by the magazine “Der Feinschmecker”. Every week in WELT am Sonntag they write about the basics of cooking, from the right kitchen equipment to the question of how to recognize a good butcher or fishmonger. All episodes to read online: www.welt.de/kochschule
