Simply Seafood®

Seafood: Wrap It Up

They're all the rage: wrappers of all kinds that enclose food to make it flavorful, moist and, most of all, fun to eat. Some are edible—like pastries add rice papers—while others, including corn husks, paper and foil, simply enclose foods to retain maximum flavor and tenderness during cooking.

Wrapping foods isn't anything new. Long before stone or pottery cooking pots came in use, ancient cooks wrapped small pieces of meat in sturdy leaves to protect them from the fire as they cooked. This natural wrapper served the additional purpose of containing steam produced during roasting, keeping meat moist.

Wrappers offer the added luxury of wonderful flavors and textures, while often making for fun meal-in-a-hand eating.

Today, in our thoroughly modern kitchens equipped to make cooking quick and easy, we look to wrappers to add interest and variety to our meals. Borrowing from other cultures, we adapt traditional wrapped specialties—such as tacos or wontons—to our own particular tastes and available foods. Wrappers offer the added luxury of wonderful flavors and textures, while often making for fun meal-in-a-hand eating.

Seafood lends itself well to wrapping. Fish that delicately flakes can be totally captured in a wrapper so it won't fall apart during cooking, and cooking fish inside something (besides its own skin) insulates it from harsh, drying heat. There's no better way to use leftover cooked fish than to toss it into a tasty wrapper with other savory ingredients. So, shake loose of the old fish-rice-and vegetable-on-the-plate trap and get wrappin'.

It's A Wrap

The recipes here offer a starting point in a world of wrappers for seafood. Here are some other possibilities:

Recipes

Fresh Leaf Wrappers

Large basil or mint leaves
Sorrel leaves
Spinach leaves
Romaine or other lettuce leaves

Herbs and lettuce make crisp, flavorful wrappers for cooked pieces of seafood, as with the Spicy Fish Cakes. Leaves can also be wrapped around flaky fish before grilling, to hold it together and retain moisture. Large herb leaves, such as bail or mint, or superb folded around shrimp or scallops before grilling.

Dried Leaf Wrappers

Nori, sheets of dried seaweed, is traditionally wrapped around raw fish for sushi, but it also adds delicious flavor as a wrapper for other preparations of fish.

Other Leaf Wrappers

Kale leaves
Cabbage leaves
Grape leaves (rinse before using)

Some tougher leaves need softening before wrapping around either whole pieces of fish or a mixture of seafood with rice or other stuffings. These stuffed leaves are best steamed or baked.

Non-Edible Wrappers

These wrappers hold seafood together during cooking, retaining a maximum of flavor and moisture as an added bonus. For a whimsical presentation, bring the wrapped seafood directly to the table and allow guests to unwrap their own.

Banana leaves
Corn husks
Aluminum foil
Parchment paper

Pastry and Other Dough Wrappers

Phyllo dough—paper-thin sheets to lighty brush with butter for ultra-flaky results; can enclose individual servings of fish or a mixture of seafood and vegetables; sold in freezer sections

Puff pastry—rich with butter, puffs when baked for elegant presentations; very versatile; sold in freezer sections

Tortillas—flour or corn, available in various sizes; great for seafood tacos or enchiladas

Rice paper—sheets available in many shapes and sizes, including rounds and squares, wrap around crisp vegetables and shrimp or crab for fresh spring rolls; available in Asian markets and specialty stores

Bread dough (frozen or homemade)—roll out fill with seafood and tomato sauce for calzone, or other multicultural possibilities, including Latin American empanadas and Indian samosas

Crepes—ideal wrapped around rich seafood fillings before baking with a sprinkle of cheese on top

Pasta—sometimes available commercially in sheets for filling at home, or use homemade pasta

Cooked lasagna noodles—spread with a cooked seafood filling and roll up before topping with tomato sauce to bake

Wonton wrappers—thin pasta-like squares to stuff with seafood and simmer or fry