Halibut Steaks
By Cat, July 2015 (Photo, right, from More to Door (5))
See also: 1. Fish and Seafood Menu; 2. Pico do Gallo, Mango Variation; 3. Mango (About), including How to cut a mango
I wanted to try something different for my July 4th celebration this year, and bought a fresh, wild-caught halibut steak. I remembered that years ago I made a delicious lime-marinated halibut dish served with a mango salsa for a friend’s birthday dinner, and decided to try that again.I searched and searched through my cookbooks and old recipe notes, but could not find that recipe. What do do? Look on the internet.
About source recipes
I found three recipes, one which serves the halibut with a cooked tomato salsa from Country Living (1,2) , a second from All Recipes (3) that serves with raw mango-tomato salsa, and a third (by Gwyneth Paltrow) that serves with raw mango-avocado salsa (4). I have adapted all three salsa options. If you are serving a party, you can provide all three!
For this July 4 celebration, I will try the mango-avocado salsa.
Ingredients
- Tomato Salsa (optional)
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 small onion
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 large ripe tomatoes
- 1 small jalapeño pepper
- unrefined sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 3 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- Mango-Tomato Salsa (optional)
- 2 cups plum tomatoes (or cherry/grape tomatoes), seeded and diced
- 1 ½ cups diced peeled ripe mango
- ½ cup diced onion
- ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 2 Tbsp freshly-squeezed lime juice
- 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp Rapadura or white cane sugar
- unrefined sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- dash of cayenne (optional)
- Mango-Avocado salsa (optional):
- 1 medium ripe avocado, peeled and cut into ½” dice
- 1 medium ripe mango, peeled and cut into ½” dice
- 1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, quartered
- 4 large fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 Tbsp freshly-squeezed lime juice
- unrefined sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- dash of cayenne (optional)
- Halibut:
- 4 each 6-oz tail-end halibut steaks
- ⅓ cup freshly-squeezed lime juice
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp unrefined sea salt
- ¼ tsp ground white pepper
- Fruitwood chips or dried fennel stalks
- Lime slices (for garnish)
- Equipment:
- heavy 2-quart saucepan (for tomato salsa)
- shallow dish (for marinating)
- outdoor grill
- Tomato Salsa: In heavy 2-quart saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and sauté 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and sauté until soft. Remove from heat. Stir in garlic and sauté until soft. Remove from heat.
- Stir tomatoes, jalapeño pepper, salt, and black pepper into onion mixture. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes to blend flavors. Just before serving, stir in cilantro.
- Mango-Tomato Salsa:
- Combine salsa ingredients in mixing bowl. Stir in ½ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon pepper, and garlic.
- Mango-Avocado Salsa:
- Gently combine the avocado, mango, tomatoes, basil, olive oil, and lime juice in a large mixing bowl. Season salsa to taste with salt and pepper and set aside at room temperature, gently tossing occasionally.
- Halibut: In shallow dish, combine halibut, lime juice, oil, salt, and pepper. Turn fish several times in lime marinade. Refrigerate 30 minutes to marinate.
- Meanwhile, heat coals or wood in a grill until hot, and soak wood chips in water for 30 minutes. Lightly oil or coat grill rack with nonstick vegetable cooking spray and set aside.
- Drain wood chips and place on hot coals. Heat grill rack. Drain halibut and place on hot grill rack 4 inches above hot coals for 5 minutes. With 2 large pancake turners, carefully turn fish. Grill 5 minutes longer or until fish flakes easily. Garnish with lime slices. Divide each halibut slice in half before serving and top each with a spoonful of one of the salsas.
Testing:
7/4/2015: Made only one serving (¼ recipe), using the mango-avocado salsa. I can’t set up my grill because of fire restrictions (due to hot dry weather), so I will pan-grill my halibut indoors. For salsa, used ¼ each avocado and mango, ¼ cup quartered tomatoes, 2 medium basil leaves, and 1 tsp each olive oil and lime juice, plus salt with red & black pepper combo. For marinade, I used 4 tsp lime juice, 2 tsp olive oil, and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Marinated for about 4 hours because I went to the July 4 parade and then visited with friends. I used coconut oil in my cast iron skillet to pan-grill the halibut. Cooked over medium-high flame 5 minute on first side; turned over and grilled another 5 minutes. Result: This is excellent. Halibut was nicely flaky, very moist and flavorful. The mango & avocado salsa is very good with the halibut, but I think next time I’ll add just a bit more olive oil and lime juice. The dash or cayenne (from the red & black pepper) is a nice touch.
References:
- Country Living halibut recipe: countryliving.com/food-drinks/recipes/a928/lime-marinated-halibut-3029
- Country Living salsa recipe: countryliving.com/recipefinder/tomato-salsa-2988
- My Recipes halibut with mango salsa recipe: myrecipes.com/recipe/grilled-halibut-fresh-mango-salsa
- Bon Appetite! Gwyneth Paltrow’s halibut with mango-avocado recipe: bonappetit.com/recipe/gwyneth-paltrow-s-grilled-halibut-with-mango-avocado-salsa
- More to door photo: moretodoor.co. uk/shop/halibut-steaks (link removed and disguised because site contains malware)
