Striped Bass en Papillote

For my first bass recipe, I made Striped Bass en Papillote with Brown Rice. It's pretty simple, and the provencal/Mediterranean-style sauce is sweet from the tomatoes and briny from the capers. It's also great for not making a mess because the fish is cooked in tin foil which you can just throw it out.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 1-inch pieces of striped bass filet

1 medium sized ripe tomato, or a handful of grape tomatoes, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp drained capers

4 sprigs thyme

4 slices lemon (I used lime because I didn't have lemons, but I think lemon would work better)

salt and pepper

Brown rice cooked according to the directions (I used a Lundberg brown rice mix - it adds great nutty flavor and texture)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400. Pat the fillets dry and season with salt. Line a baking sheet with tin foil and drizzle a bit of olive oil on it, then place the fish on top of the oil. Slide the lemon slices under the fish and top each with two sprigs of thyme.

Add about 1/2 tbsp of olive oil to a skillet and saute the garlic for about 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the tomatoes and a pinch of salt and saute for about two minutes until soft. Add the capers, stir, and remove from heat.

Spoon the tomato mixture over the fish.

Put a piece of tin foil over the fish and crimp the edges tightly with the tin foil below. (You don't want the steam to escape.)

Bake for 15 minutes.

Open one of the corners to be sure that the fish is cooked enough. If not, just crimp it back up and put it back for another few minutes.

Spoon brown rice onto the plates and top with fish and sauce. Pour any extra liquid from the tin foil over the fish and rice.