Last Night's Dinner #100: Halibut with Peas à la Française

I can't believe I made it to 100 dinners!! And I can't believe it's going to be 65° F today!


Halibut with Peas à la Française

Martha had Eric Ripert on her show last week and I definitely had to try his Halibut with Peas à la Française recipe. Can you believe that Halibut was $21.99/lb at Whole Foods?!? Well, I didn't want to skimp so I warned Hillsy that we would need to eat very slowly and savor the pricey catch. He suggested eating with toothpicks to help slow us down!

The site's version of the recipe is slightly different from the way he cooked it on the show, so thankfully I recorded it on DVR and played it back...



Serves 2
You'll need:
- 2 ounces of bacon slap, cut into 3/4-by-1/4-inch pieces
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 5 pearl onions, peeled and thinly sliced
- 2 halibut fillets (6 ounces each)
- Fine sea salt
- Freshly ground white pepper (I didn't have white pepper as you can tell from the black specks on the fish)
- 3/4 pounds fresh English peas, about 1 cups shelled and blanched
- 1/2 cup finely shredded iceberg lettuce (I didn't shred mine fine enough!)
- 1 cup low-sodium chicken stock or Fish Fumet



Heat up your dutch oven and add bacon and onions (season with salt). Cook until nicely golden and fat is fully rendered - make sure you don't burn the onions, so lower your heat or take the pot of the heat if you notice it getting too hot too quickly. (I noticed that it was a bit dry in the pot - I wasn't getting much fat out of the bacon, so I drizzled a few drops of oil and added about 1 tbs of water.)



In the meantime, season the fish well with salt and pepper. Once the bacon and onions are ready, place the two fillets on top of the bacon/onion mixture. Add the peas and lettuce around the fish and slowly pour in the stock. Cover with the lid and make sure your heat isn't too high. It should be done in 5 or so minutes. The fish will be white and very opaque.

Place each fillet on a serving plate and spoon some of the peas, onions, lettuce and juice around the fillet. Enjoy!