Baked Halibut with Herbed Sauce, Preserved Lemons and Serranos
Shooting this recipe was in short, a delight. I’ve been making a version of this recipe since the Fall, but hadn’t actually taken the time to write it down and shoot it. Over the Holidays, I tested it on my family and it was a huge success, not a single complaint around the table. The other great thing here, is the sauce will last quite a while, so you can have a bit of a “choose your own adventure” kind of approach to meal making. My everyday philosophy when it comes to meal making is simple: all hail the dips, dressings, and sauces. If you have one great sauce or dressing, you can pair it with almost anything in it and it will taste great. It makes for really simple, (seemingly) sophisticated meals any time of day. It’s made the working from home mid day meal, a breeze.
In this recipe I used halibut, but you can easily swap for a lot of other white fish. Sea bass could be particularly good. The sauce is really what packs all of the flavor, so don’t hold back on it when serving. For a side salad, spinach or a wilted kale would also do nicely. There tends to always be a theme to my recipes, and it’s that you can really be nimble and flexible with what you have around. That said, I find this to be a really balanced dish— from the spicy serranos, to the raisins, and the peppery arugula, it’s an absolute delight.
Baked Halibut with Herbed Sauce, Preserved Lemons and Serranos
For the Sauce
1 ½ tsp coriander seed, toasted
½ tsp cumin seed, toasted
1 tsp cumin
½ tsp cardamom
¼ tsp crushed red pepper
5-7 few peppercorns, toasted
1 bunch cilantro
1 punch parsley
4 sprigs mint
4 cloves garlic
½ of serrano pepper (optional, and to taste)
2” sliced preserved lemon rind
⅓ c olive oil
Juice of 1 - 2lemons
Salt and pepper
For the Fish
2-3 fillets halibut
1 lemon
Arugula
Pine nuts
Serrano pepper
Salt and pepper
To make the sauce, place all ingredients in a food processor, or an immersion blender, and blend ingredients until a thick pesto like sauce forms. If it is too thick, add more olive oil, tasting as you go to make sure it is seasoned well. Lemon juice here is always a bit tricky depending on size and acidy, so start with the juice of 1 lemon first.
Once the sauce is finished, make your fish. Preheat oven to 400. First, pat dry the fish and season with salt and pepper. Slice lemon into thin slices and place layered, on top of year fillet, about 3 slices each. In a baking sheet or oven safe pan or skillet, place a piece of parchment paper large enough for the 3 fillets to sit on. Place fillets on pan and brush with olive oil. Bake for about 10 minutes. The fish should flake!
To serve, place fillet on a plate or pasta bowl. Add arugula, pine nuts, serrano slices and drizzle with lemon juice and olive oil. Top with herbed sauce and serve.
