Halibut in Broth

Halibut is one of my favorite fish. When cooked correctly its flesh is a creamy, porcelain white. Flakes tumble off when prodded with a fork. It whispers to me - help me...jazz me up…bring on the flavor! I wanted to do just that using but using mostly things I already had in my pantry. I wanted to keep it healthy too. Why waste all the benefits of eating fish by fattening it up?

I put about 5 cups of chicken stock into a stockpot along with 2 grated carrots, a stalk of celery sliced thin on the diagonal and 5 quarter sized slices of ginger, skin and all. I shared my glass of wine with the pot by splashing in about 1/2 cup. I added a tablespoon of soy sauce and let the broth simmer over medium high heat until it reduced and intensified for about 15 minutes. The broth should taste good. Don’t be afraid to slurp some while you reduce to see what it tastes like. If you are using a canned stock or an off brand you might want to add more veggies to help the flavor come along, or some sautéed onions.

When the broth was reduced a little and tasty I put a little olive oil into a sauté pan big enough to hold a pound of halibut cut into 4 portions without touching. I let it get hot and then added my pieces of halibut that I had sprinkled with salt and pepper and let them cook for a few minutes without peeking so they would get a nice golden color on top. Once I turned them all over I add the reduced broth to the pot and let the broth finish cooking the fish. It only took about 5 minutes. I put each portion of fish into a bowl and ladled some of the broth in and sprinkled with some fresh parsley. Okay so maybe the cheese straws I ate along with it negated the whole healthy aspect of the dish but it was quick, warm, comforting and pretty darn tasty. Maybe next time I hold off on the cheese straws!

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