People cook food in packages all over the world—the tamale counts as one, too—but leave it to the Italians to do it simply. In Rome, you would have this with bass or turbot, but really it can be made with any fillet you like. Cooking in packages requires a small leap of faith to determine that the food is done, because once you open the packages you want to serve them. This method has always worked well for me.

　　

Ingredients

makes 4 servings

　　1 1/2 to 2 pounds thick cod fillet, cut into 4 equal pieces

　　1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

　　Salt and black pepper to taste

　　1 teaspoon minced garlic

　　1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley or basil leaves

　　Lemon wedges for serving

　　

Step 1

Put a baking pan in the oven and preheat it to 400°F. Take 8 sheets of aluminum foil, each about 18 inches long, and place one piece on top of the other (you will make 4 packages). Rub the fish with some of the olive oil; it should be nice and moist. Season it with salt and pepper and put it on a piece of the foil. Sprinkle with garlic and parsley and fold the foil onto itself, crimping the edges as tightly as possible. Repeat the process. (You can refrigerate the packages until you’re ready to cook, no more than 6 hours later.)

　　

Step 2

Put the packages in the baking dish and bake for about 15 minutes (or about 8 minutes from the time it starts sizzling). Let sit for a couple of minutes before carefully slitting open the packages. Then spoon out the fish and serve with the lemon.

　　

Cod Baked in Foil with Vegetables

Step 3

Add any or all of the following to each of the packages: 1 seeded and diced plum tomato, a few black olives, some capers, some very thinly sliced potato or onion.

　　

Cod Baked with Vegetables

Step 4

You don’t need to make packages to produce the same flavor: Use either the original recipe or the variation and place the fish and other ingredients in a covered baking dish (Corning Ware is ideal for this). Bake at 350°F to 400°F until the fish is cooked through (the fish is done when the point of a thin-bladed knife inserted into the thickest part meets little resistance), 10 to 15 minutes.

　　The Best Recipes in the World by Mark Bittman. © 2005 by Mark Bittman. Published by Broadway Books. All Rights Reserved.MARK BITTMAN is the author of the blockbuster The Best Recipes in the World (Broadway, 2005) and the classic bestseller How to Cook Everything, which has sold more than one million copies. He is also the coauthor, with Jean-Georges Vongerichten, of Simple to Spectacular and Jean-Georges: Cooking at Home with a Four-Star Chef. Mr. Bittman is a prolific writer, makes frequent appearances on radio and television, and is the host of The Best Recipes in the World, a 13-part series on public television. He lives in New York and Connecticut.