Putting this together requires minimal prep and few ingredients. The result is a savory and elegant dish that works with any thick white flaky fish. The recipe is adapted from Chef Eric Ripert’s book Seafood Simple.
Impatient? Skip to the recipe.
I do have one, or really two quibbles with Chef Ripert’s book, so I’ll get those out of the way first. In this day and age of sophisticated home cooks and access to inexpensive thermometers and kitchen scales, it is surprising that he chose to stick with volumetric measures (mostly) in the book and with judging doneness for seafood with the “feel” test of using a thin skewer or cake tester that you insert in the fish and then on your lip to see if the food is hot/cooked enough.
Neither is helpful to home cooks. Most cooks these days should have a kitchen scale and the idea of them being as proficient as a Michelin star chef in judging doneness with a cake tester to the lips is silly.
Ok, getting off my soap box now. That being said, it is a very good book that is indeed filled with simple seafood recipes. I appreciate how the book is organized as well. Ripert breaks down the book into chapters based on cooking method like raw, steamed, marinated, baked, fried, grilled,…I find this more helpful and convenient that say the “by season” organization that a lot of modern books seem to love. Many of the recipes are so elegant (as you would expect from the guy behind New York’s celebrated Le Bernardin) that you would think it takes far more work to put one together than it actually does.
Just like this recipe, from the “baked” chapter. I’ve made it a few times with different types of flaky white fish and it is easy and equally good for a weeknight meal or part of a multicourse romantic evening dinner for two. Other favorites from the book? The poke (you can see a picture of it in my Shoyu post) and a lovely salmon with tomato sauce are two that come to mind.
Ripert makes a mushroom stock that I used as a template for my Mushroom-Koji stock for this recipe. You can easily substitute any light stock you like for it whether vegetarian or a light chicken one.
Other than that all that is needed is to sauté some mushrooms, add fish fillets on top and bake the whole thing for 15 minutes. Serve it with any starch you like (brown rice is nice) for a more filling dinner and you are done.
Baked Halibut with Mushrooms
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat your oven to 375 F.
- Cut the mushrooms into large bite size pieces.
- In a sauce pan, heat the butter and oil over medium high heat. Add the mushrooms with a good pinch of salt and pepper and cook until the mushrooms are starting to get soft and are almost cooked, about 10 minutes. Add the shallots and sauté for another 4 or 5 minutes. Add the stock, bring to a simmer and reduce the heat. Cook for about 10 more minutes, ideally the liquid should be reduced to about 1 cup or so. The mushrooms will be "wet" but not swimming in liquid. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper as needed.
- Brine the halibut for 15 minutes (not more!) in the brine solution. Rinse and pat dry. Alternatively, season well with salt and let sit for 20 to 30 minutes before cooking.
- Transfer the mushrooms and their liquid to a large deep baking dish. Set the halibut fillets on top and place a thyme sprig or two over each fillet. Cover the baking dish and bake in the oven for about 11 to 15 minutes. The fish should be flaky and hot in the center. Ideally use a thermometer to ensure the fish is about 127F to 130F in the center.
- Serve right away in deep bowl with the mushrooms on the bottom and the fish on top with plenty of the mushroom stock.
