I must say, cooking a couple of nights with my Plated box really got me back in the mood to cook and be creative at dinner time.

On Thursday, I decided to cook halibut. I found a simple but wonderful recipe on Epicurious and I had almost all of the ingredients at home already – sans the fresh, wild halibut.

Mom was already at Dave’s Marketplace (one of our favorite still local grocerys in the area) and was able to pick up fresh, wild halibut. (You should always try to get WILD fish and stay away from farm raised whenever possible. If farm raised is the only option at a market I am at, I will often decide to not get fish at all and go with another organic protein.) Mom picked up half a pound of halibut which was plenty for the two of us. Halibut has some healthy traits and it is so easy to prepare in a healthy way (grilling!).  Halibut is low in cholesterol and might be able to help lower your cholesterol when eaten regularly (once a week or so). It is high in protein, low in fat (especially saturated fat) and has healthy omega three essential fatty acids (so a lot of the fat that it does have is good for you!) Halibut is a good source of potassium, magnesium, phosphorous and B vitamins.  It is thought it might be able help to prevent some digestion cancers as well as ovarian cancers.  

 

Before heading home for the day, I changed into my running clothes for my fourth run in the last seven days. I only did two and a half miles, but it felt great and I was really glad I had literally forced myself to go – it was definitely not something I was eager to do at 5 o’clock on Thursday. Afterwards, I felt wonderful and accomplished.

Once I was home (and showered) I got right into the kitchen to start dinner. I whipped up the lemon basil vinaigrette: 

I unwrapped the halibut, seasoned it with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. I heated up my grill pan. Once the pan was at a good temperature, I took it off the burner, sprayed a little Trader Joe’s olive oil cooking spray directly on the pan and put it back on the burner. I added the halibut (skin side down) and topped it with the vinaigrette:

I let the fish cook for five minutes on one side, and then I flipped it over. I am always excited whenever I can use my favorite fish spatula – let me tell you! 

 

I cooked it for another five minutes on this side, and added some more vinaigrette. While the fish was cooking, I popped the baked zucchini fries into the toaster oven – they were left over from last night’s Plated wonderful meal. I also had red cabbage leftover and I sliced up some locally grown tomato for another side.

 

Everything came together wonderfully and the end product was both beautiful and delictable! 

Grilled Halibut Recipe, adapted from Epicurious:

Ingredients: 

The juice of one lemon

Lemon zest from one lemon

two tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves garlic, crushed and minced 

4 tablespoons of thinly sliced fresh basil (think chiffonade here!) 

1 tablespoon drained capers (but it’s ok if some of the caper liquid gets in there – it will add flavor!) 

half a pound of fresh halibut, skin on. You can cut it into pieces, but I left my halibut whole and cut it to serve after it was finished cooking. It’s up to you!

Freshly ground pepper and kosher salt, to taste 

Instructions:

Heat your grill pan over medium high heat.

Quickly whisk together your lemon juice, zest, garlic, olive oil in a small bowl.   I added a small pinch of salt into the vinaigrette and some freshly ground pepper. At the same time I seasoned my fish with freshly ground pepper on both sides. Spray grill pan with some cooking spray if you want to (I don’t think it’s necessary). Put your piece of fish on the grill pan, skin side down. Add some of the vinaigrette to the top of the fish. Cook for at least 5 minutes on this side, flip fish, and cook for five more minutes. Depending on the thickness of your piece of fish, it may take longer to cook. Flake off a piece of the fish – if the thicker parts are white, (not clear and pinkish) then your fish is cooked. 

Transfer your fish to serving plates or a platter. Quickly whisk your remaining vinaigrette together again, and add remaining mixture to the cooked fish. Enjoy!