Halibut – Grow. Cook. Eat.

My favorite produce market has begun stocking its aisles with little seedlings. I couldn't help myself, and loaded up my cart with the first of the summer/fall crops – leeks, broccoli and Brussels sprouts.

But before I can get these plants into the garden, I have to prepare the vegetable beds. There's not much left from last summer, just a few haggard leeks that survived the cold winter.

I harvest those, and then with a garden shovel, I turn the soil. I break up clumps of matted down dirt and pull out tangles of old roots that may interfere with the new plants. Once the soil is aerated, I mix in compost.

I didn’t have enough leeks for a side dish, so I opted for a little “vichyssoise” sauce for roasted halibut. I prepared a basic vichyssoise with less chicken stock and some asparagus stems. I added spinach for a bright green pop of color, and sautéed morels to bring out the sweet earthiness of the fish.

Roasted Halibut with Asparagus and Morels

2 halibut fillets
1 tbs. butter
1/4 pound fresh morels
1 small shallot, peeled and diced
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 tsp. fresh thyme
1/4 cup red wine
1 tbs. canola oil
1/4 cup red wine

salt pepper and lemon juice to taste

Asparagus Sauce

1 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1 tbs. butter
2 small leeks, chopped
1/4 cup potatoes, diced
1/4 cup white wine
14 asparagus spears, trimmed, tips reserved
1/2 cup spinach
salt and pepper to taste

1. Make the sauce: Heat butter in a small pot. Sweat leeks and potatoes. Add asparagus (except reserved tips), white wine and chicken broth. Simmer, covered for 15 minutes or until asparagus and potatoes
are tender.

2. Put spinach in the bottom of a blender. Pour the sauce base into blender
and puree. Season to taste with salt and pepper (and a spot of cream too)

3. Season halibut with salt and pepper.

4. Heat a large skillet over medium high flame. Add 1 tbs. butter. When melted, add the morels, shallots, garlic and thyme. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for 2 minutes without stirring. Stir a little and then continue cooking for a few minutes more. Add the red wine, and continue cooking until almost all the liquid has evaporated. Set aside in a warm place.

5. Heat a second large skillet over high heat. Add canola oil. Pat fish dry and gently press into the pan. Cook for 5 minutes on the first side or until golden brown. Turn over, turn heat to medium and cook for 2 minutes more. Remove fish from pan.

6. Serve halibut with sauce, morels and steamed asparagus.

During the summer between my two years of business school, I had a summer internship in China and traveled with a few of my classmates. Their biggest complaint about the food was that there were too many bones. The Chinese tend to cut meat into chunks, on the bone, and cook it that way. They do this for two reasons. First, it stretches the meat farther. A single chicken, for example, can serve 6-8 people when butchered this way, rather than American 4. But more importantly, meat cooked on the bone tastes better: it has more flavor and is more juicy.

The same is true for fish. The challenge for fish, of course, is that the bones are smaller. They are harder to pick out, and have a greater chance of getting stuck in your throat. When I serve that has been cooked on the bone, I carefully remove the bones in the kitchen before serving. It makes the eating more pleasurable in that you don’t have to cautiously pick around the meat.

When I cooked halibut the other night, I topped it with morels and asparagus. The last thing on my mind were bones… I wanted to savor the earthy, meaty flavor of the spring-time treat. Since I removed the bones in the kitchen, I had nothing to worry about, and could eat with abandon.

Seared Halibut with Morels, Asparagus and Red Wine
2 halibut steaks
1 tbs. butter
1 pound fresh morels
1 large shallot, peeled and diced
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 tsp. fresh thyme
1/4 cup dry sherry
1 tbs. canola oil

1 cup red wine
1/2 cup chicken stock
2-4 tbs. butter
1 tbs. fresh parsley

salt pepper and lemon juice to taste

1. Season halibut with salt and pepper.

2. Heat a large skillet over medium high flame. Add 1 tbs. butter. When melted, add the morels, 1/2 the shallots, garlic and thyme. Season with salt and pepper. Cook for 2 minutes wihtout stirring. Stir a little and then conintue cooking for a few minutes more. Add the sherry, and continue cooking until the liquid has evaporated. Set aside in a warm place.

3. Heat a second large skillet over high heat. Add canola oil. Pat fish dry and gently press into the pan. Cook for 5 minutes on the first side or until golden brown. Turn over, turn heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes more, covered. Remove fish from pan. Sprinkle parsley on top.

4. Add the remaining shallots and red wine to the halibut pan. Let wine reduce to 1/4 cup. Add the chicken stock and reduce to 1/4 cup. Remove pan from heat and swirl in butter, more or less to taste. Season to taste with salt, pepper and lemon juice.

5. Gently separate the halibut steak from the bone. Pull out the main bone in the center, and the small pin bones on the each side. Run your finger along the insdie of the filet to make sure all bones are removed. Put the filet back together.

6. Serve halibut with sauce, morels and steamed asparagus.

Category: Halibut

Spring Fever, Part I (Roasted Halibut with Aspargus and Morels)

On the Bone (Recipe: Seared Halibut with Morels and Red Wine)