15-Minute Halibut Parcels Recipe

Elaborate and beautiful dinners always seem more trouble than they're worth. After a long, tiring day of work, it's rare to have the energy and motivation to cook something healthy and nutritious for your family. Sure, you can meal prep, but there's something about sitting down to a fresh meal that's more inviting than three-day-old leftovers. This fast and easy halibut recipe is sure to become a staple in your weekly rotation. It's quick, simple, and, most importantly, delicious.

Recipe developer Susan Olayinka of The Flexible Fridge knows the importance of family meals and making them busy-life-approved. Through her kitchen hacks and tried-and-true recipes, a fancy halibut dinner comes together in 20 minutes flat! It's time to put down the phone and throw out the takeout menu. A busy life does not have to mean sacrificing your own well being. By feeding our bodies delicious and nutritious foods, we're actually saving ourselves in the long run.

One of the most important things we can do for our bodies is to fuel it with simple, wholesome ingredients that leave us feeling full and satisfied. For this recipe, you'll need half a lemon (you'll juice half of it and then you can cut a few slices from the other half for garnish), three tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil, salt, black pepper, and eight sprigs each of rosemary and tarragon. You'll also need some parchment paper.

Olayinka says that if you don't have fresh herbs, dried herbs work just as well. You can replace the fresh herbs with "one teaspoon of rosemary and one teaspoon of tarragon," she says. 

Get a small mixing bowl and stir together the juice of your half lemon, the extra-virgin olive oil, the salt, and the black pepper. By making our own marinade for this recipe instead of relying on something store-bought, it's easy to eliminate any hidden ingredients that you otherwise might not want to cook with. You can even use store-bought lemon if you absolutely have to, but the flavor will be better with fresh. 

After making your marinade, get a 24x15-inch sheet of parchment paper, fold it in the middle like a book, then cut out the shape of an elongated half circle (or a little sideways pouch or purse) so it forms a full oval if you unfold the sheet. Do the same with a second piece of parchment.

You don't want to just cut out a half circle, because you'll need a little extra room for the fish. 

Next you'll want to preheat your oven to 400 F. It's time to prep the parcels. Brush the olive oil marinade onto the opened up sheets. Place two rosemary sprigs and two tarragon sprigs vertically next to the fold on the parchment papers. Then, place your fish on top of the herbs and brush your fish with the marinade. 

To complete the parcels, place another two sprigs of rosemary and two sprigs of tarragon on top of each piece of fish. Once finished, you can begin to seal the edges of the parchment paper, forming it into your parcel. "Working from one end of the circle, begin to tightly fold the edge of the paper. Continue to do so until the parcel is sealed," says Olayinka. 

Why bother making a parcel? The parcel makes the fish cook faster, explains Olayinka. "This method of cooking is much more suited for a 15-minute recipe," she says.

Once you've repeated the steps above for your second piece of fish, it's time to begin cooking! Place your parcels on a baking sheet, and place them on the top shelf of the oven. Now, cook your parcels in your oven for 15 minutes. When the timer goes off, carefully use kitchen scissors to cut open your parcels. Be very careful as there may be a lot of steam that comes out. 

Once the parcels are open, you can take your fish out and serve it immediately. To make this dish more hearty, Olayinka recommends serving with a side dish. "I had mine with roasted potatoes, but one can easily have it with couscous, rice, or sweet potatoes."