Bream Baked in a Roasting Bag with Vegetables
The vegetables here are sauteed before going into the bag, and it's not an extra step. Raw zucchini with pepper and tomatoes would release so much water into the bag that the bream would boil in it instead of roasting; once sauteed, they've already lost the excess moisture and only finish cooking in the bag.
There's no need to pierce the bag, even though the source recipe advises it. Piercing lets the moisture escape along with the steam — the very reason the bag was used in the first place. What actually works is different: don't tie it too tightly and leave air inside — then the film puffs up but doesn't tear.
The eighty minutes here isn't about the fish. The bream is ready much sooner; the time is set by the potatoes, which sit raw at the bottom of the bag and take longer than everything else to cook through.
A roasting bag isn't the only way to seal in a fish: bream baked in salt with scales on uses a salt crust instead, and juicy wild carp in foil with tomatoes uses foil. Either way, the moisture stays put.
Caloric content: 130kcal
Preparing the Ingredients
Seasoning the Fish
Cutting the Vegetables
Sauteing the Onion and Carrot
Adding the Pepper
Seasoning the Sauteed Vegetables
Preparing the Potatoes
Preparing the Roasting Bag
Filling
Tying the Bag
Baking
Cutting Open the Bag
Plating
Adding Extras
Serving
Notes
- The vegetables are sauteed in advance. Zucchini, pepper and tomatoes release a lot of water. Raw, they turn roasting into boiling inside the bag.
- No piercing. The source recipe suggests "a few random holes" — but that lets the moisture escape along with the steam. Instead, the bag is tied loosely, leaving air inside.
- The time is set by the potatoes. The fish is ready in forty minutes, the potatoes at the bottom of the bag take eighty. That's why the longer time is used.
- The potatoes are dressed with mayonnaise separately. This way the fat spreads over every slice; poured into the bag, it would just pool at the bottom.
- The bag is cut open away from you. The steam inside is hot and escapes all at once.
Questions and Answers
How long to bake bream in a roasting bag?
Eighty minutes at 200 °C. The time is determined by the potatoes, not the fish.
Do I need to pierce the bag?
No. Piercing lets the moisture escape along with the steam. It's enough to tie the bag loosely, leaving air inside.
Why saute the vegetables in advance?
So they release excess water before going into the bag. Raw zucchini and tomatoes would boil the fish in its own juices.
What can replace the roasting bag?
Foil folded in two layers, seam up. But foil is easy to pierce with a fin, and then the juices will leak onto the baking tray.
Recipe and step-by-step photos — kolizhanka.net.ua.