Foil-Packet Fish and Lemon Rice
A whole fillet steamed in foil over coals, with lemon-herb rice cooked in the same pot of water you're already boiling.
- calories
- 620
- weight
- 7 oz
- cal / oz
- 89
- protein
- 38 g
- serves
- 2, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 25 min
- total time
- 35 min
- water
- 250 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Canister stove
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- Foil packet
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Basic
Ingredients
| Walleye or other firm white fish fillets | 2 fillets, about 6 oz each | fresh-caught, or frozen and packed in the cooler |
|---|---|---|
| White rice | 1/2 cup | long grain, not instant |
| Water | 1 cup | for the rice |
| Lemon and herb seasoning | 1 tsp | |
| Dried lemon peel | 1 tsp | stands in for fresh zest |
| Salt | to taste | |
| Dried parsley | 2 tbsp | rehydrates into a bed under the fish |
| Dried minced onion | 1 tbsp | |
| Lemon | 1 | slices for the packet, or 1 tbsp bottled juice |
| Olive oil | 1 tbsp | |
| Heavy-duty foil | 2 sheets, about 18 inches each |
Method
- Start the rice first. Bring 1 cup of water to a boil with the lemon-herb seasoning, dried lemon peel, and salt.
- Stir in the rice, wait for it to return to a boil, then lid it and drop to the lowest heat you can hold for 20 minutes. Pull it off and leave the lid on another 10.
- While the rice sits, build the packets. Scatter the parsley and half the onion down the middle of each foil sheet and sprinkle a splash of water over them so they soften.
- Lay a fillet on the herbs. Top with the rest of the onion, two lemon slices, and half the oil.
- Fold the foil into a sealed envelope with air space above the fish. Crimp the seams tight or the steam escapes.
- Set the packets on a grate over coals, not in flame. Fifteen minutes for a thick fillet, ten for a thin one. The packet puffs when it is working.
- Open a packet away from your face. The fish should flake. Slide it onto the rice and pour the liquid from the foil over everything.
This is a two-fire dinner that only needs one. The rice cooks by absorption on a stove or a corner of the coals, and while it steams off-heat for its final ten minutes, the fish goes on the grate. Both are ready at the same time and neither needs watching.
The foil packet is doing the real work: it traps steam so a lean fillet cooks through without drying out, and the liquid it releases becomes the sauce for the rice. The original called for fresh parsley, fresh zest, and white wine — none of which survive a cooler well. Dried parsley and lemon peel rehydrate in the packet’s own steam, and lemon slices or bottled juice cover the acid. The fish is the only thing here that needs cold, so this is a car-camping or paddle-in dinner, night one.
Packing
Rice, seasoning, lemon peel, parsley, onion, and salt go into one bag at home so camp is one pour. Fish rides in the cooler on ice, in a zip bag inside another zip bag. Foil sheets pre-cut and folded flat.
Variations
- Crab meat tucked under the lemon slices, if you have it and it is cold.
- No fish? The same packet works on a thick slab of firm tofu, pressed and drained.
- A pinch of saffron in the packet liquid is the one luxury worth its weight.
https://www.huntingpa.com/threads/walleye-recipes.8373