Italian Salmon Wrapped in Parchment with Grape Tomatoes, Black Olives, Sliced Garlic and Capers

I have a special Italian friend who loves to cook and entertain. She has been an inspiration to me for so many years. Her food is always so fresh and delicious and inspiring. It is also usually very simple. She has taught me so much through the years such as that a recipe does not have to be complicated to be good. It is just going to taste good if you use the best, freshest, authentic, not processed ingredients. It is about going to the market that day, just like they might in Europe and putting it all together in a snap. This dish is so simple that you can actually can put it all together just right before your party. The juice of the lemon makes it pop and the typical Italian olives and capers that Italy is so famous for give it that salty, savory punch. You might just feel like you were just picking fresh lemons off the Amalfi coast in Positano.

Prep Time : 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

1 3-4 lb. Salmon filet, skin on

6 Tbs butter, sliced thin

1 8 ounce container of grape tomatoes

2 lemons. One juiced and 1 cut into rounds

6 cloves garlic sliced thin lengthwise

¼ cup capers

¼ cup olives pitted and sliced in half or quarters lengthwise

Salt and Pepper to taste

3 Tbs fresh, coarsely chopped parsley

Parchment paper

Kitchen Twine (optional, you may just fold parchment over

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Salt and pepper your fish liberally on both sides. Place fish in the middle of a piece of parchment papers in a pan skin side down. Squeeze the juice of 1 lemon evenly over the fish. Place slices of butter evenly over fish. Top the fish with the garlic, tomatoes, capers and olives. Place the lemon slices on top. Top with parsley. Wrap the parchment around the fish. I just folded it underneath so that it would steam. But you can tie kitchen wrap around it, it is not necessary, but you may. Bake the fish for 30 minutes on the middle rack of the oven.

Remove from oven. Open the parchment paper.

Serve

Variations:

Instead of cooking the entire fish fillet, you can cut it into smaller pieces and wrap each piece individually. In this case, only cook the fish 15 minutes.