Cod en Papillote With Bordier Vanilla Butter

Fifteen minutes in a paper parcel and the fish cooks itself. Cod fillets go into a folded sheet of baking paper with zucchini ribbons, sliced radishes, fresh thyme and diced Bordier Madagascar Vanilla butter. Nothing escapes, so the butter melts into the vegetables and steams the fish from below. Vanilla and cod is a classic pairing in French coastal cooking, and the lime squeezed over at the table keeps it from turning sweet. Under half an hour, most of it hands off.

At a glance

Difficulty: Medium
Serves: 4
Active time: About 15 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes at 200°C (400°F)
Key ingredient: 60 g Madagascar Vanilla Bordier Butter

Why this works

A papillote is a sealed steam oven the size of a dinner plate. Water from the vegetables turns to vapour, has nowhere to go, and cooks the fish at a temperature that never exceeds boiling point no matter how hot the oven is. That is why cod, which dries out and flakes apart the moment it is overcooked, comes out of a parcel intact and moist. The butter melts into that steam and coats everything on the way.

Bordier's Madagascar Vanilla butter, introduced in 2010, is unsalted butter worked with brown sugar and Madagascar Bourbon vanilla, churned by hand in Brittany on a wooden malaxeur. Vanilla with white fish is not a novelty: the aromatic compounds in a vanilla pod are floral rather than sugary, and they sit naturally alongside the sweetness of very fresh cod. The radish adds pepper, the thyme adds resin, and the lime at the end supplies the acid that pulls the whole parcel back into focus.

Ingredients

Serves 4, one parcel each. Quantities are Bordier's own.

Ingredient	Metric	US
Cod fillets	4	4
Madagascar Vanilla Bordier Butter	60 g	2.1 oz, about 4 tbsp
Pink radishes	1 bunch	1 bunch
Courgette (zucchini), cut into spaghetti	1	1
Fresh thyme	1 bunch	1 bunch
Lime	1	1
Salt	A pinch	A pinch

A note on the vegetable: Bordier's own title for this recipe mentions pumpkin spaghetti, but the ingredient list specifies a courgette, which is zucchini in US kitchens. We have followed the ingredient list.

Method

Step 1: Build the parcels

Take a sheet of baking paper and fold it in half. On one side, arrange the courgette spaghetti and the radishes sliced lengthways. Lay a cod fillet on top, then add the Madagascar Vanilla Bordier butter cut into dice, the fresh thyme and a pinch of salt.

Step 2: Seal, bake and finish with lime

Close the papillote by folding the edges over and tightening each fold as you work around the parcel. Set it on a baking tray and bake for 15 minutes in an oven preheated to 200°C (400°F). Take it out, open the parcel and squeeze over some lime juice.

Tips from our kitchen

Crimp every fold twice. A parcel that leaks is a parcel that roasts instead of steams, and the difference in the fish is obvious. Work around the edge folding a centimetre of paper over on itself, then press each fold flat again.
Slice the radishes thin. Lengthways, as Bordier says, and no thicker than a coin. Radishes are dense and 15 minutes will not soften a thick slice, so you get raw crunch under cooked fish.
Dice the butter rather than dropping in a lump. Small even dice melt at the same rate and distribute across the fillet. A single block melts from the outside in and pools on one side.
Cod is done at about 55°C (130°F) at the thickest point. Fifteen minutes suits a fillet around 3 cm (1 1/4 inches) thick. Thin tail pieces will be ready sooner, so buy centre-cut fillets of matching thickness if you can.
Open the parcels at the table. All of the aroma is trapped inside, and it escapes in about ten seconds. Take the tray to the table, then cut them open.
Do not add the lime before baking. Acid firms and whitens fish protein during the cook. Bordier is specific that it goes on after the parcel is opened, and that is where it belongs.

How to serve it

The parcel is a complete plate: fish, vegetables and sauce all in one. Serve it with plain steamed potatoes or good bread to mop up the butter that collects in the paper, and pour a crisp white such as Muscadet or Picpoul. If you are cooking for people who are new to flavoured butters, this is a good introduction, and our Bordier butter guide explains what else the range can do.

Where to buy Madagascar Vanilla Bordier Butter in the US

The French Pantry ships Bordier butter across the United States in insulated overnight packaging, straight from the workshop in Brittany.

Churned Madagascar Vanilla Butter by Bordier (4.4 oz): unsalted butter worked with brown sugar and Madagascar Bourbon vanilla, cut into dice for the parcels.

For the seaweed and lemon-olive oil butters that also suit white fish, browse the Maison Bordier collection.

Frequently asked questions

How much Bordier butter do I need for this recipe?

You need 60 g. Bordier blocks are 4.4 oz (125 g), so one block covers the four parcels with about half the block left over.

Can I use a different fish?

Any firm white fillet behaves the same way in a parcel. Haddock, hake and pollock all work. Adjust the time to the thickness of the fillet rather than the species.

Can I substitute another butter?

The Bordier unsalted or salted butter gives you a clean butter-and-thyme parcel, which is good but different. The seaweed butter is the closest alternative if you want a flavoured butter with fish and would rather go savoury than aromatic.

Foil or baking paper?

Bordier's ingredient list and method both describe baking paper, folded in half. Foil seals more easily but does not brown or crisp the paper edges, and acidic ingredients can react with it. We use paper.

How should I store the butter?

Bordier butter is a fresh, hand-churned product and ships cold. Keep it refrigerated in its wrapper, and dice it straight from the fridge so the pieces hold their shape.

Can I assemble the parcels in advance?

Yes, a few hours ahead. Build them, keep them flat and refrigerated, and add two or three minutes to the bake since they will go into the oven cold.