For many years I was fascinated about the idea of cooking in parchment paper packets. To find recipes and directions I searched under  “vegetarian” and “cooking in parchment”, “cooking en papillote”, and “cooking al Cartoccio”.

I finally made the opportunity to try it for a dinner with my parents. My photos are not great since I was hungry and in a hurry to eat but at least I took photos. I worried about my technique folding the parchment paper since it was not as beautiful as in the photos. It did not matter. I was concerned about some leaking since parchment nowadays is very thin – but I doubled it and it was fine. It may not have been necessary. Some of my packets were not folded neatly but it did not matter.

Veggie Packets – broccoli, carrot, green beans, mushrooms, lemon slices, and pine nuts (I added them they were not in original recipe) cooked in parchment. I LOVED this recipe. It had a robust lemon flavor! My Dad also loved this one. My Mom was not as much in love – the lemon was a little too much for her.

Farfalle with Artichokes al Cartoccio – We mostly followed this recipe but did not use black olives. My Mom LOVED this recipe. My Dad and I were alright with it.

Fruit en Papillote – We followed this recipe but did not use the blueberries. Once it was out of the oven we served it with vanilla ice cream. I think all of us enjoyed this but how can you go wrong with fruit and ice cream.

Cooking in parchment paper was a different way to make and serve dinner. Now that I tried it once, I would do it again.