The Cooking Curmudgeon: Fish Wrapped in Savoy Cabbage with Caper Butter Sauce

In an effort to eat cheaper and healthier, I've been trying to make two meals a week meatless, and two meals a week with fish. This is a recipe I've made a couple of times now and it's always been moist and tasty. I think it's even good enough to serve to company. And as an added bonus, it qualifies as an Emmi!

The only things that might ruin this recipe are overcooking the fish (which I have not yet done) or under cooking the cabbage (which happened to me last night.) The flavor and texture of the fish was perfect, but the cabbage was crunchy, somewhat spoiling what would have been a perfect dinner! Next time, I will either cook the cabbage longer, or maybe, cut out the tough stem.

Here's my version of the recipe that I found in the March issue of Bon Appetit.

Ingredients:

9 T butter, at room temperature
4 T capers
2 T minced Italian parsley
6 large Savoy cabbage leaves
6 4-oz fish fillets (Halibut, Cod, or other firm fish of your choosing)
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

Method:

1. Mince or finely chop 2 T of the capers and then add them to a bowl along with 5 T of the butter, the parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix well and set aside.

2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and drop in the cabbage leaves. Let cook for 2 to 5 minutes, depending on how tough the leaves are. You want them to be pliable enough to wrap around the fish. Remove leaves, drain, and pat dry.

3. Take one leaf and trim the thick part of the stem so the leaf will lie flat (or cut out and remove the stem completely.)

4. Lay the leaf flat, stem end towards you, and place a fish fillet about an inch and a half from the bottom. Sprinkle the fish lightly with salt and pepper. Spread 1/6th of the caper butter on top of the fish. Fold the bottom up, then the sides, then continue rolling until you have a nice, tight packet. (Use a toothpick, if needed, to hold the packet shut.)

5. Place the fish packet on a large baking sheet, seam-side down, and continue with remaining fish, cabbage, and caper butter. Sprinkle packets with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.

6. Melt 1 T butter in a large, non-stick skillet. Place the packets, seam-side down, in the skillet and cook until lightly brown (2-3 minutes.) Turn fish over and repeat. Return fish to baking sheet.

7. Bake fish at 350 degrees for 7 minutes or until fish is cooked through.

8. Melt remaining butter in skillet used to brown the packets. Add remaining capers. Cook over medium-low heat until butter turns a nutty brown.

9. To serve, place a packet on a plate and drizzle with brown-butter sauce.