Giada De Laurentiis’ Italian Fish and Veggie Pockets: ‘This Is Something You Can Make in the Summer’
Food Network star Giada De Laurentiis helps make weeknight dinners a snap with her simple-to-make and even easier-to-clean-up foil packet fish and vegetable meal.
While she uses trout in this recipe, any fish of your preference can be used. It’s folded into a foil packet, along with your favorite vegetables, for a delicious and quick supper.
Giada De Laurentiis’ fish meal calls for simple ingredients
De Laurentiis’ recipe requires lemon zest, stemmed sugar snap peas, sliced yellow and orange bell peppers, white wine, lemon juice, olive oil, skinned trout, lemon slices, and mint leaves.
About 4 large sheets of aluminum foil or parchment paper will also be necessary for the meal.
“This is something you can make in the summer … and you can do whatever vegetables you like,” De Laurentiis told Savannah Guthrie in an appearance on Today, video below.
Get the complete recipe and reviews on Food Network’s site.
The chef’s fish and veggie pockets come together in minutes
De Laurentiis mixes together the lemon zest, salt, and pepper in a small bowl and sets it aside. Next, the pieces of foil are laid out and the ingredients are layered on each one: first a small amount of the sugar snap peas, then an equal amount of the yellow bell peppers and orange bell peppers.
She dresses the vegetables with the wine, lemon juice, and oil (“Just using those same ingredients over and over,” she tells Guthrie), then seasons the packet contents with salt and pepper.
A portion of the trout is nestled onto each serving of vegetables and dressed with the lemon zest mixture earlier set aside. “It could be any fish you like,” she continued. “It could be sole, it could be tilapia, anything.” Two lemon slices go on each packet.
Fold each bundle of fish and veggies up tightly and bake in a 350-degree F oven for about 18 minutes. “You want it tight, otherwise all of the liquid comes out,” she adds.
The Simply Giada star recommends sprinkling with fresh chopped mint just before serving.
De Laurentiis’ fish recipe has dozens of five-star reviews
Reviewers on Food Network’s site took De Laurentiis up on her suggestion to make the recipe one’s own.
“I just made this tonight with Dover Sole, it came out great. Fast to make, taste great and easy clean-up. My kind of meal,” one home cook wrote.
Another person added, “So simple and easy to make and we found it quite flavourful. The fresh mint was surprisingly good. I also liked the zing from the lemon zest and salt. I substituted match stick carrots for the peppers and added enoki mushrooms. I cooked it for 16 minutes, took it out of the oven, and let it sit for five minutes. It was perfect!”
Lastly, another home cook made the meal a true summertime dish by cooking it outdoors: “Absolutely amazing! I used swordfish and cook it outside on the grill. This recipe is a keeper.”
RELATED: Giada De Laurentiis’ Tips for a Perfect Pasta Salad
