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Pan-Seared Halibut with Lemon Butter Dill Sauce Recipe

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Description

Adapted from a recipe by Chef Billy Parisi.

Ingredients

  • 2 pieces halibut, 6–8 oz each (skin on or off according to your liking)
  • Salt and fresh-ground pepper
  • High-smoke point oil
  • 8 Tbsp unsalted butter, divided, 6 Tbsp kept cold
  • 1 shallot, finely chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/3 C white wine
  • Juice of 1/2 a lemon
  • 3–4 Tbsp fresh chopped dill

Halibut ingredients

Instructions

  • Salt and pepper both sides of the halibut.
  • Place a pan with good heat retention on the stove and preheat it over medium-high heat. Add 2 Tbsp oil and check the temperature with your infrared thermometer. When the temperature of the pan reaches 425°F (218°C) add the fish to the pan. 
    • If using skin-on halibut, be sure the skin side is down at first. 
  • Let the fish cook for 1–2 minutes (2 if skin on). Flip the fish over and cook another 60 seconds. 

Flipping the fish

  • Cook and flip every 60 seconds. When a good crust starts to form, after about 4 flips, start temping the fish with your Thermapen ONE. 
  • Add 2 Tbsp butter to the pan and baste both pieces of fish with it, tilting the pan to pool the butter near you and using a large spoon to spoon the butter onto the fish. Flip again if needed.
  • Temp the fish. If you find no temp lower than 120°F (49°C), remove the fish from the pan and kill the heat. 
  • Pour out all but 1 Tbsp of the butter and return the pan to the stove, but don’t turn it on. 
  • Add the shallot and garlic and cook in the pan’s residual heat until translucent. 
  • Add the wine to the pan to deglaze. Cook until almost all the wine has cooked off. If the pan has cooled too much to cook the wine off, turn the heat back on medium-low. 
  • Remove the pan from heat.
  • Whisk the cold butter into the pan 1 or 2 tbsp at a time. If there is any sizzling, let the pan cool more before you proceed. 
  • When all the butter is whisked in, add the lemon juice and chopped dill. Whisk to combine. Taste and adjust salt. 
    • If everything went perfectly and the sauce is thick and creamy, congrats! You just made beurre blanc. If the sauce is kind of runny and soupy, no problem, it will still be delicious! The beurre blanc-ness of it is just a bonus. 

Adding lemon juice to the sauce

  • Plate the fish and spoon the sauce over it, garnishing with a little more dill if you like, and serve!

Seared halibut

Find it online: https://blog.thermoworks.com/fish-seafood/pan-seared-halibut/