Dinner in a Pouch

Keeping with the "Meal-in-a-Container" theme, tonight I tried cooking fish in a foil packet, and guess what? It was really good! Want to see what it looked like? Keep reading...

The first step in this super-simple operation was tearing off a piece of heavy-duty aluminum foil for each piece of fish. For years I resisted buying heavy-duty aluminum foil, because I thought it was a waste of money. Well, as my husband's grandmother used to say, "You thought wrong." The stuff is priceless: I use it to line my baking sheet when I cook bacon in the oven and I have almost no grease to clean up; I use it wrap brisket and it doesn't leak, and tonight I used it for the fish packets, and again it came through for me.

I bought about 3/4 pound of salmon, cut it into two pieces, and put about 1 T. of a very secret mixture (see below) on each piece. Then I topped each piece with sliced pineapple and a sprinkle of crushed red pepper flakes. Could it get any easier?

Here's the fish after I prepped it, but before I sealed it up and put it in the oven.

And 20 minutes later, heeeeeere's dinner:


I served the salmon with vegetable fried rice (using whatever vegetables I had in the fridge) as well as some roasted asparagus. A simply delicious dinner!

Salmon in a Pouch
Serves 2 (can adjust quantities to serve 1 - 100)

heavy-duty aluminum foil!
1 T. teriyaki sauce
1 T. hoisin sauce
2 6-ounce pieces of salmon, skin removed
4 rings of pineapple, fresh or canned
sprinkle of crushed red pepper flakes

Tear off a piece of foil for each piece of fish. I would say my foil was about 10 - 12 inches by 18 inches. Spray with nonstick spray and place a piece of fish on each piece of foil.

Combine the teriyaki and the hoisin sauce in a small bowl. Spoon 1 T. of sauce over each piece of fish. Place two pineapple slices on top of the fish and sprinkle with crushed red pepper to taste. Seal the packet by bringing the top and bottom pieces of foil up and folding, then folding in the sides.

Packets can be prepared 8 hours ahead of time and refrigerated until ready to bake.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place the foil packets on a cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes (if your salmon fillets are very thin, they will be done sooner; if very thick, they may need an extra couple of minutes). Remove from the oven, open carefully and serve.

Idea from Hungry Girl 1-2-3 by Lisa Lillien