Steamed Fish and Couscous Parcels
Photography Aaron McLean.
These tasty one-parcel meals are easy to make as a single serve, for the family or multiply to feed a crowd.
Serves: 4
INGREDIENTS
1 cup couscous
1 cup boiling water
½ teaspoon ground cumin
2 spring onions, thinly sliced
finely grated zest 1 lemon
4 x 150 gram pieces firm white fish fillets
2 medium zucchini
6 cherry tomatoes or 2 small vine tomatoes, thinly sliced
16 large black olives, halved and pitted
olive oil for drizzling
sea salt and ground pepper
lemon wedges for serving
4 x 40cm rectangles of baking paper or foil
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 200°C.
Combine the couscous, water and cumin in a heatproof bowl and season with salt and pepper. Cover and leave for 5 minutes. Fluff up with a fork and stir in the spring onions and lemon zest. Place ¼ of the couscous in the centre of each sheet of baking paper.
Brush both sides of the fish with olive oil and season. Use a potato peeler to cut long thin strips off each zucchini. Wrap the strips around each piece of fish, tucking the ends underneath.
Place on top of the couscous and arrange the tomatoes in a line down the centre.
Dot the olives around the fish then drizzle everything with olive oil, a pinch of salt and a grind of pepper. Bring the edges of the paper together and fold over to seal.
I staple them together at this point.
Carefully transfer to a flat baking tray and bake for about 12-15 minutes. Cooking time will depend on the thickness of the fish.
To serve: Transfer the parcels to shallow dishes and let diners open their own parcels. Serve with lemon wedges.
Cook’s tip: You can make multiple servings of this recipe by allowing a ratio of ¼ cup of dry couscous with ¼ cup of boiling water per person. Other flavourings such as capers, anchovies, sun-dried tomatoes and fresh herbs can be added too.
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In Dream Escape, we journey from Japan and Morocco to Italy, India and beyond, sharing recipes inspired by travel, heritage and comfort. We celebrate the champions of the Outstanding Food Producer Awards, explore the stories and recipes of chefs shaped by their cultural roots, and warm up with everything from West African soups and slow-braised lamb to porchetta, butter chicken and beef noodle soup. Alongside destination menus, Scandinavian sweets and cosy pub classics, Chrisanne Terblanche shares her favourite street-side dining spots in Bangkok, while Yvonne Lorkin explores red wine varietals. This issue, we invite you to slow down, turn the pages and escape through food.







