Halibut with summer vegetables
A summer evening classic with a cold glass of white wine
Several days of sweltering temperatures in London directed me towards the fish counter this morning as part of my Saturday morning Waitrose ritual. Search as I might for a thick slab of white fish with skin glistening like a fine piece of quartz, instead I was confronted by a row of salmon akin to chaps queuing to get into the Pitcher and Piano on a rugby Saturday. Jostling alongside them were slivers of fish so thin that crisp skin would undoubtably result in overcooked flesh. Instead I visited the frozen aisle found some halibut that fit the bill. Of course not all of the packets looked like the picture on the box but after careful selection the right pair was mine. The downside with frozen fish is that it’s a little more difficult to get a crisp skin and it never quite looks as ‘quartzy’.
These summer vegetables can be turned into a soup to eat by itself; just add more water. The key is fresh vegetables, good olive oil, mineral water and a relatively brief cooking time. Enriched either with freshly made pesto or pistou as is your preference and supplemented with soup pasta depending on how hearty you want to make it. Play with the recipe as you wish.
Ingredients (serves 2)
Fish
Ideally, two thick pieces of white fish though it works with almost anything. To cook you’ll need some regular olive oil and unsalted butter.
Pistou
(i) 2 cloves of garlic (ii) A small bunch of basil (iii) A teaspoon of toasted pine nuts (iv) Sufficient Extra Virgin Olive Oil to make it into a sauce (about 50ml)
Vegetables
(i) 1 banana shallot (ii) 80g of fresh broad beans, shelled and skins removed (iii) 80g of peas (fresh or frozen) (iv) 80g carrot, diced (v) 80g courgette, diced (vi) 80g Jersey Royals, diced (vii) 50g celery, diced, (viii) 2 tomatoes, skinned, deseeded and diced (ix) 50ml Extra Virgin Olive Oil (x) Enough mineral water to cover the vegetables (xi) 50g of soup pasta such as Pepe Bucato, Stellette or Tubettini
Method
Step 1: Pistou
Using a pestle and mortar, crush the garlic with a little salt until it forms a paste. Working quickly add the basil and pine nuts crushing them until incorporated remembering the more you work it, the darker the basil will go. Add the olive oil gradually until it comes together as a sauce. Alternatively, you can make this in the smallest bowl of a Magimix or similar by blending the garlic, salt and pine nuts to a paste then adding the basil and olive oil. Once made, set aside for the moment.
Step 2: Vegetables
The key here is not cook them on too high a heat or for too long. The former will burn the olive oil and the latter will dampen the flavour of the vegetables. It’s rare that I cook with Extra Virgin Olive Oil but here it will enhance the flavour of the soup. Mineral water ensures that you have a clear finish instead of a streak of London mirk. Of course if you happen to live somewhere where the air and water are superior then I’m delighted for you. The stuff out of your tap will be fine.
Heat the olive oil on medium in a heavy based sauce pan and add the shallots. Let them sweat until soft which should take a couple of minutes. Add the diced broad beans, peas, carrot, courgette and potatoes. Sweat those with a lid on until they are tender. This should take about three minutes, but do lift the lid every minute or so and move them around to make sure they are sweating and not frying.
Remove the lid and add the water. Bring to the boil and then let the soup simmer for ten minutes. If you want to add soup pasta then then it needs to go in between three and four minutes before the vegetables are cooked so account for that as part of the ten minutes cooking time. It’s best to slightly undercook the pasta as it will continue to absorb liquid and get mushy if it’s left for too long.
Step 3: Fish
Depending on your level of confidence, competence of both, you can either cook your fish while the soup is simmering or wait until it’s cooked before you move on. Two thick slabs of white fish need two small frying pans. Your fish won’t achieve a crisp skin if they have to share.
Heat each pan with a little tablespoon of olive oil and a small knob of butter to a medium heat. Ensuring that the fish is as dry as possible, season the skin with salt and place in the pan skin side down. If the fish is really fresh, it’s worth scoring the skin a couple of times and holding it down for a few seconds to prevent it curling.
Let it cook on a medium heat for five minutes and then carefully turn it over adding a couple more knobs of butter. Turn off the heat. Baste the fish in butter for two minutes and then remove to a warm plate with a piece of kitchen paper on it.
Step 4: Assembling the dish
Add the diced tomato and the pistou to the vegetables. Stir and check the seasoning. Ladle the vegetables into two deep bowls and perch the fish on top. Drizzle some Extra Virgin Olive Oil around the bowl and eat immediately.
Wine recommendation from Dominic Regan (@krug79)
A brilliant bottle is Tesco Finest Chablis 2016 . It is £15 -95 but 25% off in buy 6 deal now on (correct as 6th July 2019). It is incredibly complex.
Wine Society Exhibition Chardonnay from NZ same price and good but not as good as the Chablis above.
M&S Vinho Verde about £8
(I had a glass of Waitrose Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand)
