Halibut with pea puree

A few months ago now, I had the chance to visit Petrus with a group of colleagues.  You may have read my review , where I declared my favourite course to be the halibut with pea puree.  I decided this weekend that I would try to recreate it - sort of!

Halibut is a terrific fish - second only, perhaps, to turbot.  It is the largest of the flat fish (growing up to 600lbs) and as such can produce big, thick, meaty fillets.  Unfortunately, most commercially available halibut never reaches anything like this size - instead, if we're lucky, we can get fillets of fish a couple of centimeters deep.  The larger fish tend to go to the restaurant trade.

Halibut doesn't breed until 8 years of age - or about 30" long.  This means that many smaller halibut you see for sale in fishmongers are farmed - or at least one hopes they are.  According to MCS, male fish should only be caught when aged 7-8 years and female fish at 9-11 years.  And they should only be caught between February and October.


With a piece of fish as good as this, the best approach is usually the most simple; either poach it in court bouillon, grill it or - as I did - pan fry it.  The difficulty with a recipe like this is in being precise with cooking times - I don't know how thick your fillets of fish might be.  Overcooking a piece of fish like this could be a costly and disappointing experience.  I'd only recommend this for people who are familiar with cooking fish and can tell by sight and touch how the fish is cooking.

Along with a deliciously sweet pea puree, I also made a more earthy cauliflower puree, some mashed potato, a few sugar-snaps for texture and some chard.  The chard was a mix of red and yellow - the red having lovely deep coloured leaves, the yellow having vibrant green leaves.

For the fish:
2 slices of halibut fillet
Seasoning
A splash of olive oil
A squeeze of lemon juice

For the peas:
4oz frozen peas
A glug of olive oil
Sea salt

For the cauliflower:
4oz cauliflower
A splash of milk
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

First, make the vegetable purees - these can be gently reheated when you're ready to serve.  Boil the peas until tender.  Drain, reserving the cooking water.  Refresh the peas under cold water. Blitz the peas with a splash of the cooking water, a splash of olive oil and a pinch of sea salt.  If it's too heavy, add a touch more cooking water.
Boil the cauliflower until tender.  Refresh under cold water.  Either blitz the cauliflower or mash with a fork, adding a little milk until the right texture is achieved.  Season well.

For the fish, season well on both sides.  Get a pan nice and hot and add a splash of olive oil.  Add the fillets skin-side down.  Allow to cook for 3-4 minutes until the fish is turning opaque.  Turn the fish over and turn off the heat.  Squeeze over the lemon juice.  The fish will continue to cook while you plate-up the rest of the meal.

tags: fish  

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