Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Pan-Roasted Halibut with Clamshell Mushrooms & Lemon Butter Sauce – Long in Name, Short in Shopping List

Above and beyond keeping things simple, and pardon the cliché, letting the natural goodness of the ingredients shine through, the beauty of a recipe like this pan-roasted halibut with clamshell mushrooms, is that there are just less things to possibly screw up. 

That should be great news to people terrified of making fish recipes. Brown some mushrooms, sear some fish, and finish with yet another simple and delicious pan sauce. That’s really it, and much like our famous, “Just Chicken and Mushrooms” recipe, I think you’ll be amazed at how much flavor these few components provide.

Speaking of flavor, you can certainly use a non-stick pan here, which pretty much insures your fish will go un-mutilated; but as you’ll see in the video, if you use cast iron, or stainless steel, a little bit of fish flesh will form a fond on the bottom of the pan, which will give you a much richer base for the butter sauce.

In case you didn't already know, mushrooms and halibut have a natural affinity for each other, and both are wonderful with the lemon-parsley butter sauce. So, whether you fear cooking fish, or not, I hope you give this super simple, yet fabulous recipe a try soon. Enjoy!


Ingredients for 2 portions:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter, melted in oil
2 (7-oz each) halibut filets
salt and cayenne to taste
handful of clamshell mushrooms, or sliced un-cool, regular mushrooms
1/4 cup water
juice from 1/2 lemon, or to taste
1 tbsp chopped Italian parsley
1 1/2 tbsp butter to finish sauce

28 comments:

Food Junkie said...

Great recipe - simple, fast and still looks really impressive. I assume a nice, white wine would also work for acidity?

Chef John said...

Absolutely! Thanks!

Willie Dukeshire said...

OOOO BABY! now your talkin...What a kick ass recipe! being that we live in Newfoundland Canada and have Atlantic cod right at the back of my property....I WILL be doing this recipe with the fresh cod. I hope that doesn't insult you. Definitely not intended. My wife and I will luv this. Thank you so much Chef John. We will try it with halibut,...but first ooooh yaaa gotta do the cod. Catch the fish in the am...doin the recipe in the pm.JOB WELL DONE MAN! wish we had a recipe like that when we had our fish and chip truck business. God Bless

philogaia said...

Yum! And I'm thinking braised greens under that halibut and sauce right now. This has reminded me I haven't done halibut for a long time.

Hey, CJ. Nice well seasoned iron skillet you are rocking there. I remember at one point you said didn't care for them. I forgave you since you did like AllClad. ;)

Alex Moorehead said...

Hi Chef John,

How well would this work with salmon? I know you said that halibut is pretty rich for a white fish which is why it works well with mushrooms, so it sounds like it would work well with salmon.

Rob D said...

Hey Chef John

Looks Awesome !!!

Why did your years of Monte au beurre
change from being cold to "room temperature, but not soft"? :)
You feeling a little risky these days?

Chef John said...

Yes, any seafood works!

Chef John said...

With this little liquid, I don't like the butter too cold!

Unknown said...

Hey Chef John -

When you make these recipes for, say, a dinner or something, do you serve them with any other dishes or is the one dish usually the meal?

I'm not sure if it's just that I'm a bit of a glutton or if it's just a difference in culture (former seems likelier) but I feel like I'd have to double this recipe for a meal for two. I'm not sure what the norm for portion sizes might be and I thought I'd chance asking.

Anyway, I love your videos and you've done so much to help me develop a love for cooking. I look forward to many more videos!

Best of health and good wishes to you! :)

Unknown said...

come on chef, it's fish butter and lemon as usual, is it worth post a recipe, otherwise, love your stuff at all!
greetings from Berlin, Germany...waiting for inspirating meals ;)
Luis

Unknown said...

That looks incredible! What a beautiful dish.

Chef John said...

Luis, thanks for watching, but I'm here to teach cooking, not to impress with fancy recipes. I think you'd be surprised how many people are inspired by these simple techniques. Not all the viewers are world class chefs such as yourself. ;)

Chef John said...

Ink, 6-7 oz would be considered a normal portion, but yes, their would be others sides involved like a salad, etc.

DaveSetton said...

Hi Chef,

I have been trying to cook most of my proteins to internal temp to ensure consistency and was wondering if you could tell me what you would suggest cooking an internal temp to on a fish like this?

Also, do you have a substitute idea for the mushrooms? My wife doesn't like them for some reason, but we are trying to eat more fish in our diets.

Love your stuff
Dave

Chef John said...

I honestly don't know! I could Google, but so could you, so I won't. ;)
To me that's overkill, since it would be hard to get the right spot in such a think tapered piece of fish.

Trust me, you'll know when halibut is done.

Chef John said...

"thin, tapered"

Chef John said...

Also, there is no sub for mushrooms! You can leave out and add something she eats!

Sandra from Montreal said...

My mouth is watering! And I agree; there's no substitution for mushrooms! :)

choral singer said...

Hi Chef John,
Wouldn't the lemon juice break down the seasoning on your cast iron pan?

Chef John said...

Didn't seem to!

Unknown said...

Hi Chef!

Thanks for this great recipe. You are correct in your assumption that not all are world class chefs and that I personally along with my fam have benefited so much from all these recipes and techniques that you take the time to post. Thanks for all that you do, you are a good person.

Best,
Parham

Unknown said...

Should I double the recipe if I'm using 4 portions?

Unknown said...

"You got what it takes to rock the knob..." hilarious! Oh, and btw, great recipe, keep um comin!

prpltrmpt said...

thank you, chef john! I made this for my husband today and it was great! we/he made your potato pancakes and they were also super tasty..thanks for "sponsoring" our dinner with your delicious recipes!

Unknown said...

Looks great! Wanting to make this recipe this weekend but I don't have any halibut on hand. I do however have 2 of the same sized chilean sea bass filets. Would that work well? Same cooking time and all? Thank you so much!

Unknown said...

Dear Chef John,
I absolutely LOVE this recipe. It worked and tasted awesome. If I need to serve a party of 4, do I just double up on the ingredients for the sauce?
Please advise.
Thanks,
Lucy

Unknown said...

Chef John you rule! This is one of my favorite Food Wishes videos! "three with's"... "the hobbits of mushrooms"... "rock the knob right"... dude you are hilarious, you need a tv show asap. I also like the CAT cameo in this video. Hopefully your little friend is still around. How about some more videos with your cat? I made this recipe and it was DELICIOUS! Very easy! You are a true talent chef John, keep up the great videos! Thank you!

Unknown said...

I just made this, with a few adjustments, and it was incredibly good! I Googled what I had on hand and this worked out nicely. I had a mix of mushrooms and the sauce was excellent. I'll come back to this recipe again.