Meaty halibut is gently cooked in a port-cranberry poaching sauce, with hazelnuts bringing a slight bitterness to the dish. Cod or haddock can serve as stand-ins for halibut.
Submerged
Cooking seafood, like halibut and cod, can be tricky; overcooking can result in a dry and tough fish―not the result you want from an expensive piece of seafood. Poaching fish in a sauce can help keep it moist while infusing the flesh with the surrounding flavors. Dry heat methods of cooking such as oven baking pose a greater risk for overcooking and serving fish that tastes a bit too parched.
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This recipe originally appeared on alive.com as “Cranberry Poached Halibut.”
Cranberry Poached Halibut
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Ingredients
- 2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 shallot chopped
- 2 garlic cloves peeled and minced
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 3/4 cup port
- 2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
- 1 Tbsp honey
- 1 tsp fresh thyme
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 1/4 tsp dried red pepper flakes
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 4 5 to 6 oz pieces halibut
- 1/3 cup roughly chopped hazelnuts
- 1/4 cup chopped parsley
Instructions
- In large skillet, heat oil. Add shallot, garlic, and fennel seeds; heat for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour in port and simmer for 5 minutes. Add 1 1/2 cups water, cranberries, honey, thyme, lemon zest, red pepper flakes, and salt to skillet. Return to boil, reduce heat to medium low, and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Carefully place halibut in skillet with sauce, leaving about 1 inch between pieces of fish. Return to boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer gently with skillet partially covered for 3 minutes. Carefully flip halibut and continue cooking at slight simmer until fish is heated to internal temperature of 145 F, or has turned opaque throughout flesh.
- Remove fish from skillet and place in shallow serving bowls. Boil cranberry sauce over medium-high heat, uncovered, until liquid is reduced by about half.
- Add cranberry sauce to bowls with halibut and garnish with hazelnuts and parsley.
