writer, warrior, whack-a-doodle

Halibut with Cherry Tomato Basil Sauce

Halibut with Cherry Tomato Basil Sauce

February 8, 2016
Posted in: Totally Random | Reading Time: 4 minutes

Halibut Pan Roasted

Halibut with Cherry Tomato and Basil Sauce - 350/365

I know this is a repeat, but it's been a difficult week between massive amounts of work going on for the landscaping project, and just about everything failing all at once, it's been hell. I have a running list of the shit hitting the fan this month: our automatic gate failed causing our house alarm to periodically go off at random times like in the middle of the night, our flash water heater kept shutting off (like in the middle of bathing a Siberian husky), our Internet connection stopped due to both a blown antennae and failed router and both our personal PC's kicked the bucket (I guess Mr. Wild Dingo's caught my PC's Lyme Disease).  In addition, a tree fell on our propane tank causing a gas leak while the masons were cutting bricks, sparks flying everywhere. Yah, that was a nice little jolt of adrenaline for everyone here that day. I really just didn't have it in me last Sunday to make a new dish. But since I never really posted the original recipe, at least this is a great opportunity to share it again. I of course bought too much halibut and saved it for the next night along with the tomato sauce. I shredded the halibut and tossed it over a bunch of greens. You're welcome Internet. 

Serves 4
  • 12 inch NON stick oven save skillet. (I used enameled cast iron)
  • 4 (6-8 oz) skinless fish fillets, 1-1.5 inches thick. (.5 lb per person for each fillet)
  • salt, pepper
  • 1/2 tsp sugar
  • 1 tbs veg oil (light olive oil)
  • Lemon wedges or relish
  1. Preheat oven to 425F Roast. Rack in middle position.
  2. Pat fish dry with paper towels, season with salt and pepper.
  3. Sprinkle very light dusting of sugar evenly over 1 side of each fillet.
  4. Heat oil in 12 inch skillet over high until just smoking. Place fillets in skillet, sugar side down and press down to ensure even contact with pan. (you can sugar the up side if you remember)
  5. Cook until browned on 1 side 1-1.5 minutes.
  6. Using 2 spatulas, flip fillets, then transfer skillet to oven.
  7. Roast fillets until centers are just opaque and register 135F, 7-10 minutes.  **  7 minutes is plenty. maybe less for the thinner pieces! don't want to dry this out.
  8. Immediately transfer to serving dish and serve with lemon wedges or relish spooned over each fillet.
Tomato relish:
  • 6 oz cherry or grape tomatoes quartered
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  • 6 tbs extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 tbs lemon juice
  • 2 shallots minced
  • 2 tbs chopped fresh basil
  1. Combine tomatoes with salt in medium bowl and let stand until juicy and seasoned, 10 minutes
  2. Whisk oil, lemon juice, shallots and basil in small bowl, let stand to let shallots smooth out.
  3. Add to tomatoes and toss.
  4. Serve over fish

BTW: In  case you're wondering, my new PC is awesome. I went with an all-in-one HP Envy for simplicity of only one cord. The PC itself, the touch screen monitor and speakers are all one unit. In addition, it has two drives, one SSD drive for your system and applications and a traditional spinning hard disk drive for all your data. This makes it run very fast.  That was Mr. Wild Dingo's idea, in fact, he insisted because he's sick and tired of my computers coming to a complete crawl after only 18 months of use. He suspected it was due to apps being stored on spinning hard disk drive. It's very fast and sleek looking with Bang&Olufsen speakers on either side of the huge screen.  Mr. Wild Dingo is already warning me not to give it Lyme disease. Hopefully this will inspire me back to some great story telling this year.

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3 comments on “Halibut with Cherry Tomato Basil Sauce”

  1. I'm excited about your new computer! I'm getting my first SSD drive soon. Can't wait!!!

    So sorry about everything else going bad... what the heck is up with runs of stuff like this happening sometimes?? You need a break!

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