Pan Seared Halibut With Herbed Rice

A couple weeks ago I decided to make marinated halibut with a side of herb rice. I have made fish using one of my own recipes before and it has turned out pretty well. However, I was looking to add some more flavor into my fish so I decided to go with a recipe for this dish. The recipe I used is from The New York Times Cooking section and provides a garlic and olive oil marinade for the fish. Also, the cook on the fish is buttery and crispy. The rice I made to go with this dish combines onions, garlic, herbs and butter to make for a side dish that packs a punch. So, here are the ingredients I used and steps I took to make these two dishes.

Pan Seared Halibut:

Recipe courtesy of: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1013187-pan-seared-marinated-halibut-fillets

Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic- minced
• 1 teaspoon dried basil– does not have to be exact, I just roughly estimated
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 4 Halibut Filets, skin on
• salt and pepper to taste

Steps To Make The Dish:

• Take out a gallon size Ziploc bag. Proceed to pour your olive oil, minced garlic, lemon juice, some salt and pepper as well as your basil into the bag. Shake the bag to combine all the ingredients. After that is done, place your filets flat into the bag and seal tightly. Finally, place your bag into the fridge and let you fish marinade for about one hour.

• After one hour is up, take your fish out of the fridge and pull your filets out of the marinade (keep the marinade in the bag and save the bag) and put them onto a plate. Once that is done, Proceed to heat up a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a large deep bottomed pan over medium high heat.
• Now that your pan and oil are hot, add your Halibut filets to the pan. Cook for three minutes on each side, brushing with the marinade periodically.

• After the first six minutes are up, reduce the heat of your pan to medium and then cook your fish for three more minutes per side. After that cooking time is done, serve your fish and enjoy

Thoughts About This Dish:

What I liked about this dish is the simplicity and the amount of flavor you can build into the fish. The marinade itself is super simple and the overall dish does not require that many ingredients. But when its all said and done, the fish tastes great. Often my dishes lack a profound deep flavor but this had a ton of flavor and I was really happy with how it turned out. I would really recommend making this if you would like an easy weeknight fish dish.

Herb Rice:

I was looking for a good side dish to go with my fish and did not want it to be boring. This Herb Rice combines a classic rice with fresh herbs, butter and chicken stock to make a fantastic side dish that pairs well with the fish.

Recipe From: https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/herbed-steamed-rice

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter- the recipe calls for three but I always like to add more butter to my food when I am cooking
• 1/2 Yellow Onion diced- again, the recipe calls for a whole onion but I did not want too much onion in my rice
• 1 cup basmati or white rice
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/4 cups cold water– The recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups but I substituted the last 1/4 cup with chicken stock
• 1/4 cup chicken stock– not in the recipe but I added it for extra depth of flavor
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh herbs– I used chives and parsley but you can use other fresh herbs too
• salt to taste

Steps To Make This Dish:

• Heat up a large deep bottomed pan over medium high heat. Once your pan is hot, proceed to add your butter and let it melt.
• Once the butter is in the pan, add the diced onion and let it cook in the butter for about 5 minutes until it begins to brown.
• Now that the onion is cooked, its time to add your rice. Place your 1 cup of rice followed by your minced garlic into the pan. After that is done, add your water and chicken stock and bring it to a boil with the lid on.

• Once the liquid is boiling, turn your heat to medium low, add your salt and cook for another 10 minutes with the lid on.
• After 10 minutes of cooking, take the rice off the heat and pull the lid about halfway off. Let sit for 5 minutes.
• Fluff the rice using 2 forks. Then proceed to stir in your diced herbs and some salt. Set aside and enjoy with your fish!

Thoughts About This Dish:

Overall, this rice was solid. What I really enjoyed about it was that it transformed a humble side dish into something more and something that was elevated. This herb rice went really well with the fish and provided that punch of flavor needed. I can safely say that I will no longer serve boring rice! Also, this was a super simple way to make rice and did not take many extra ingredients which was awesome.

Final Thoughts:

I love simplicity and flavor and these two dishes had both of those aspects. When the fish gets marinaded in the oil, garlic and lemon juice it is able to soak up the different ingredients and allows it to be a great piece of fish. The rice had onion, fresh herb and plenty of salt which allowed it to pair really well with the fish. I am super happy with how both of these dishes turned out and cannot wait to try this combination again. Thank you so much for reading this blog post and I hope a halibut with herb rice dinner is in the future for you.