Kiss My Halibut

I have been told by so many fish mongers that halibut is not in season right now. In a few weeks, in a few weeks. What's the deal with that?
I have been to every fish market and Whole Foods and they all say the same thing.

What do I have to do to get a good, firm piece of halibut around here.
Kiss some butt?

I did something that I have never done before. I bought 2 frozen halibut filets at Trader Joe's. I have never purchased frozen seafood before, except for shrimp. Fish should be fresh, not frozen! I was desperate, and the cryo package said PRODUCT OF USA. What the hell, I did it. Please don't judge me.

Well, let me tell you......after thawing the steaks and taking out the cartilage, and removing the skin, these steaks were actually good looking. You'd never know they were previously frozen, no odor, nice firm white fish.

Here is my favorite way to prepare halibut.

Roasted Halibut over Polenta: this is my own concoction, and you don't have to do the polenta, it just looked nice (tasty too!).

2 halibut steaks
handful of cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup of fresh, chopped basil
1 clove garlic, minced
a tbsp of capers, and tbsp of caper juice
2 tbsp of lemon juice
a few tbsp of olive oil
about 8 kalamata olives, chopped
kosher salt & pepper for the fish

Rub your halibut steaks (trimmed of skin and cartilage) with olive oil & place on a baking sheet.
Sprinkle liberally w/ kosher salt and pepper.

Now for the sauce. Can be made hours ahead.



Cut your cherry tomatoes into quarters and put in a bowl.
To the bowl add your garlic, basil, lemon juice, capers and juice, olive oil & olives. Mix this together and leave on the counter at room temperature for at least an hour.



Roast your fish at 425 for about 12 minutes (depending on thickness). Remove from oven and spoon tomato basil sauce on top.

To make your polenta discs: Make polenta as per package directions. When polenta is thick, spoon into a glass pie dish and refrigerate for 2 hours until firm.



I cut my circles out with a biscuit cutter and then fried in a non stick skillet with some oil until crispy on the outside.
Serve your fish over the polenta discs.

This is a restaurant quality dinner (especially when you have good, fresh halibut) and takes no time to put together.