Unexpectedly delicious

Yesterday I was feeling the need for some protein so I popped over to my local market and picked up a nice little filet of basa{.broken_link} for dinner. I wandered home with my piscene package, mulling what I might do with it once it reached the confines of my kitchen.

Despite the fact that it was nearly 100 degrees outside and my apartment has no air conditioning, I opted to bake it en papillotte{.broken_link} so I fired up my oven to 350° and prepared the rest of dinner while it heated up.

Sure, I had this fish, and I was going to stuff it in paper and roast it, but what else to do? Very thin lemon slices went on the bottom, kosher salt and freshly ground pepper on the top. Then I ran downstairs and snipped some sprigs of rosemary to toss in for good measure. All very normal fishy companions. Done. Or am I?

While washing my hands I noted the sorry state of the mint plant which resides above the kitchen sink. In dire need of trimming, that is. I wonder… *snip snip*

Toss a couple bits of that on top along with the rosemary, seal the whole thing up and toss it into the (now heated) oven for twenty minutes.

The result? I was pleasantly surprised. Far from being just barely edible, as I expected, the mint made the fish a much more complex piece of work. You could tell there was something different about it but it wasn’t easy to name that tune. Very tasty, if I do say so myself. Lamb it ain’t but fish + mint = good nevertheless. This, along with the continued pathetic appearance of my mint plant, may inspire me to branch out in this way again.