Ahi Tuna en papillote

Friday 20 July

A great and infinitely adaptable recipe.
Here's the original:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/104017

ingredients
1 small fennel bulb, stalks discarded
3 medium carrots (1/2 lb)
1/2 lb small red potatoes
1/2 cup Kalamata olives, slivered
2 teaspoons finely grated fresh lemon zest
4 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
2 large garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 (1 1/2-lb) piece center-cut salmon fillet, skinned and fish cut into 4 square pieces

Special equipment: a mandoline or other manual slicer, 4 (15-inch) squares parchment paper kitchen string

preparation
Place a large baking sheet on bottom rack of oven and remove any other racks. Preheat oven to 400°F.
Halve fennel bulb lengthwise. Remove most of core, leaving enough intact to keep layers together when sliced.
Using manual slicer, cut fennel bulb (lengthwise), carrots (diagonally), and potatoes into 1/8-inch-thick slices, keeping vegetables separate.
Blanch vegetables, separately, in salted boiling water: fennel 2 minutes, carrots 1 minute, potatoes 2 minutes. Transfer fennel and carrots with a slotted spoon to a bowl of ice water, then drain well. Drain potatoes.
Toss fennel and carrots with olives, zest, thyme, half of garlic, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste.
Toss potatoes with remaining oil and garlic and salt and pepper to taste.
Divide potato mixture among centers of parchment squares. Season salmon with salt and pepper and place on top of potatoes, then top salmon with fennel mixture.
Gather sides of parchment up over fennel mixture to form a pouch, leaving no openings, and tie tightly with string.
Place packages directly on hot baking sheet in oven and cook 20 minutes. Serve immediately.

Annotations:
1. All the parboiling (not blanching) can be done in the same pot. The important thing is that the potatoes go on the bottom. So fish (!) them out first with a slotted spoon and coat them with olive and some salt and garlic.
2. Then parboil the other vedge in order of hardness: carrots, then fennel.
3. Fennel is best, but we did it this time with celery (not blanched then) and red peppers, fried up first.
4. Any nice meaty fish will do.
5. Check the temp. right through the packets - should be 120º F. - with the instant read thermometer.
6. Foil works great if you don't have parchment - just open the finished packages and slide the fish mounds onto a plate (you don't want to be cutting the tinfoil with your knives). But the parchment makes a great and attractive presentation. You can do the classic French style heart, but we find that simply folding a square of paper over the fish, then pleating the edges tightly works just as well. Serve on plates and snip each package open for each guest, letting them inhale. Remember fish steam is good for the complexion.