Halibut Cheeks with Pomegranate Sauce

This Pomegranate Sauce defies description, but I'll try.  Yummm!  OK, tangy, fruity, complex, earthy, addictive!  I can imagine it on many different dishes, chicken, fish, grains, lamb, pork, beans - could even be interesting on crepes.

One of my favorite cooking buddies and friends came to dinner, and after the previous Amuse Bouche, I put forth the ingredients for dinner: halibut cheeks, pomegranate sauce, and black barley risotto and asked her to please create a presentation – actually, I told her to “go crazy, do her thing” as only she can do it.  We have given her the moniker “chefinesse”, because she is just that.  Watch for her info on the about page soon.  On to the recipes. . .

Halibut Cheeks

1 1/2# halibut cheeks, or steaks
salt and pepper
1/2 C flour
paprika
2 T olive oil
1 T ghee or unsalted butter
1/2 fresh lime
2 T chopped fresh rosemary

Pomegranate Sauce (recipe follows)

Rinse fish and pat dry with paper toweling.  Place flour in a plate. Salt and pepper fish and roll lightly in flour.  Set aside on a plate. Heat oil and ghee in a heavy sauté pan until bubbly.  Add fish and allow to brown lightly on one side, shaking pan after a few minutes to release fish. Turn to brown on other side, sprinkle with paprika.  Fish is done when it feels bouncy to the touch, about 2-3 minutes per side. Remove to paper toweling to drain.

For plating, spoon a light circle of pomegranate sauce, stack fish in middle and top with chopped rosemary.  Serves 4-5.

Comments

[Dennis]

I do like the description "bouncy" as a way of telling when the fish is done. For solid ocean white fish it's perfect. For salmon or red tuna, and the other sushi denizens,that level would be overcooked (you want seared), and for trout, catfish or sand dabs, it wouldn't be cooked enough. But for the vast intermediate world of sole, grouper, roughy and redfish, it's a perfect description of perfect cooking. I'm so happy not to see the F word (flaky).

I would take issue with calling a pressure cooked dish with whole grain rice a risotto, just because you used stock. Risotto normally includes cream, which gives it the consistancy, and butter, beaten into the cheese at the last minute. Call this one a runny pilaf or a thick barley soup.

[greensgal]

I agree about the red-fleshed fish - seared tuna minus the mercury is one of our favorites. :-) As for risotto - I don't recall a recipe for a true Italian risotto that called for cream. Here is the description (and, yes, the rice and barley were "toasted" first in the oil. Risotto aficiandos who have had the pressure cooker version are amazed!

"Risotto is a traditional Italian dish made with a suitable variety of rice such as Arborio, Carnaroli or Vialone Nano. It is one of the most common ways of cooking rice in Italy. It originated in North Italy, specifically Eastern Piedmont, Western Lombardy, and Veneto (where the Vialone Nano comes from) where rice paddies are abundant. It is one of the pillars of Milanese cuisine.

When risotto is cooked, the rice is first cooked briefly in butter or olive oil until evenly coated and the rice starts to turn translucent, before broth is added, one ladle at a time. There are other similar dishes, but they should not be called "risotto" if the rice is not toasted."

[Urn]

Risotto rarely has cream in it. Especially with seafood. The creamy mouth feel comes from the starches in the rice and some fat - butter or oil in the end.