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Hello friends!
As promised, I’m back this week with a recipe for Seared Halibut with Sicilian Sauce. When we were in Sicily this summer, every restaurant served a Mediterranean white fish with their version of this sauce, essentially ripe tomatoes stewed with olives and capers. It feels like the essence of Italy, summer sunshine in a dish.
I don’t know if you saw one of my latest Instagram reels, but I became a gardener this summer. All my life, I’ve always said I don’t like gardening. Maybe the memory of pulling weeds in our childhood garden and the resulting rashes tainted my view. But something about moving into our new house sparked an interest, and we installed both a vegetable garden and an extensive flower garden. Now I go outside every day and putter around the yard, pulling weeds and daydreaming. I love the quiet, the serenity. It’s a new way to explore creativity. Walking out to the garden before dinner and filling a bowl with produce for our table is the most satisfying feeling. I’m hooked.
If you have a garden (or a local farmers market), this is the perfect recipe for those delicious late-season tomatoes. The sauce comes together in the amount of time it takes to cook the halibut, making it a quick dinner. You might think that you don’t like anchovies, but give them a try. It won’t taste fishy, I promise. The anchovies dissolve quickly in the oil, giving the sauce a salty, umami flavor. I love the Fishwife brand. If you can’t find salted capers in your grocery store, you can order these or something similar. The salted capers have a firmer texture and more subtle flavor than brined capers. Be sure to rinse them well to remove all the salt. But you can also use brined capers in a pinch. The flavor will be a little brighter. You might notice that there’s no salt in this dish. That’s because there are so many salty ingredients—anchovies, olives and capers—that you probably won’t need salt. But you can taste it at the end and at a little if you think it needs it. To me, this sauce is the essence of the end-of-summer. Enjoy it with a good glass of rose and an 8 pm sunset.
I hope you love it. Next week, I’m sharing another dish inspired by Sicily, a Pistachio Salad.
xo,
Lisa
Seared Halibut with Sicilian Sauce
You can use any firm white fish with this sauce, including ling cod, which Theo has been catching all summer. It would also be delicious over seared chicken thighs, if you don’t have access to fresh fish or you don’t like fish.
Serves 4
2 to 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, plus more for the halibut
2 anchovy fillets
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
2 pints grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives, sliced in half
2 tablespoons Sicilian salted capers, rinsed
zest of one lemon
fresh basil, thinly sliced
4 halibut fillets, 4 to 6 ounces each
coarse sea salt
To make the sauce, heat a pan over medium heat. Add the olive oil and the anchovies, stirring until the anchovies dissolve into the oil, a minute or two. Add the garlic and cook for another minute, until the garlic is soft but not browned.
Add the halved tomatoes and stir. Add the red pepper flakes and stir again. Reduce the heat to medium-low and let the sauce cook for about 10 minutes, until the tomatoes have released their juices but have not completely broken down. Add the kalamata olives, capers and lemon zest and stir them into the sauce. Reduce the heat to low, keeping the sauce warm until the halibut is done.
To make the halibut, salt the halibut filets generously with coarse sea salt (like Maldon salt). Heat a cast iron or carbon steel skillet over medium heat. Add a few tablespoons of olive oil, enough to cover the bottom of the pan. Add the halibut fillets, flesh side down, to the skillet. Let them cook undisturbed for 6 minutes. Use a thin flexible spatula to turn the fillets skin side down. Cook for about another 6 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the halibut is about 125 - 130 degrees F. Remove from the heat to a serving plate.
Stir the basil into the sauce and pour over the fish. Serve warm.
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