Halibut has become one of my new favorite seafood options because of its flavor and texture. Halibut is a lean fish with mild, sweet tasting white flesh, large flakes and a firm but tender texture. Because of its leanness, it becomes dried-out if overcooked which is true of just about any fish you cook. Undercooking and finding that sweet spot will have you enjoying your Halibut and other fish you cook so much more.
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When making this dish my mind went to an Oscar-style topping. But instead of placing a few asparagus on top and adding a healthy portion of hollandaise sauce, I opted to add a larger portion of asparagus underneath the fish and left off the hollandaise.
In my mind, I just scored bonus points by adding more veggies and not adding additional butter.
I will agree that there’s a lot going on with this dish, and I didn’t have my standard white plate to serve on but the ingredients are pretty wholesome. Let’s go down the list.
- Alaskan Halibut (frozen) wild-caught using line and hook and sustainable
- organic asparagus
- organic tomatoes
- fresh crabmeat wild-caught from the U.S. Gulf
- U.S. grown garlic
- fresh Italian parsley
- extra virgin olive oil first cold press
Of course, I did add a side of roasted organic potatoes (olive oil, sea salt and black pepper) with the indulgence of a little shredded cheddar on top, but other than the possible location of the harvest of crabmeat it was pretty darn clean in my eyes. A restaurant-style meal prepared with wholesome ingredients.
If you’ve never had halibut you’re going to love it! And if you want to just grill, bake or saute it, remember to watch your cooking time!
If you enjoyed this recipe you may also like these:
- Pan-Seared Halibut with Creamed Spinach
- Bread Crumb Crusted Halibut with a Lemon Butter Sauce
- Swordfish Recipe
- How to Poach Mahi-Mahi (or your favorite fish)
- Grilled Atlantic Rockfish
Pan Seared Halibut with a Garlic Crab Topping
Ingredients
- 16 ounces Alaskan Halibut fillets 2 8 ounce fillets frozen or fresh
- 8 ounces asparagus 16-20 spears
- 12 grape tomatoes cut in half
- 4 ounces crabmeat
- 1 teaspoon chopped garlic
- 1 teaspoon fresh parsley chopped
- 1 tablespoon olive oil more if needed
- sea salt and black pepper to taste
- old bay seasoning to taste
Instructions
- Season asparagus with sea salt, black pepper and olive oil. Roast asparagus spears in 350 oven for 15-20 minutes while you prepare the halibut.
- Rinse halibut with cool water and pat dry with paper towels. Lightly season with sea salt, black pepper and old bay.
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and add olive oil to the pan. Place seasoned side of halibut into hot oil and sear halibut on the seasoned side for 3-4 minutes or until golden brown. Turn fish over and lightly sear the other side.
- Place halibut in a baking dish with a little water and allow to finish cooking in the oven with the asparagus for 5 minutes.
- In the small frying pan add a little olive oil with chopped garlic and grape tomatoes then lightly saute for 1-2 minutes.
- Add crabmeat and keep cooking until crabmeat is well heated.
- Add parsley to crabmeat take off heat.
- Place asparagus on the plate, then the halibut and top with crabmeat mixture.
- Serve with your favorite side dish.
Sonia M says
Sounds delicious, I want to try it for a dinner party. Is it possible to do some of these steps ahead of time so I can enjoy our company?
Chef Dennis Littley says
hi Sonia
You could precook the halibut up to the point it needs to go in the oven. Out of the fridge it will need 10 minutes or so to fully heat up and finish cooking. You can also prep the pan for the topping and finish that off while the halibut is in the oven.
KELLY says
This was lovely. Simple and fast to execute…presentation is gorgeous! I served with asparagus and red carrots and a celery root/apple mash. Almost 5 stars…docked a point as it was not as flavorful as I like. Maybe hit the the vegs with some herbs or some Cajun or Moroccan spice on the fish? Next time! Thanks so much for a healthier alternative to Halibut Oscar!
Steve says
Outstanding recipe! We made a tarragon sauce and poured it over the crab. Not really necessary but added a wonderful flavor. Thank you for sharing the recipe. We are already making plans to serve it again!
Chef Dennis Littley says
Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed my recipe Joe, the tarragon sauce sounds like a delicious addition!
Cheryll Klotter-Weeks says
Chef Dennis,
Wow!! I made this tonight with the roasted potatoes and everything turned out perfect. I’m so glad I found your website, looking forward to trying more of your recipes.
Chef Dennis Littley says
Thank you for the great review Cheryll and I’m very happy you found my website too!
Carol H. says
Hi Chef Dennis, can I make this recipe with haddock fillets??
Chef Dennis Littley says
absolutely! this topping can be used with any of your favorite fish.
Erin Dennison says
Great recipe! Made this to celebrate a promotion for my husband and it turned out amazing. It was so easy to make and it looked beautiful when it was finished. We had this with parmesan cous-cous and a salad with a light citrus vinaigrette. So good, thank you so much for sharing!
Chef Dennis Littley says
thanks for the comment and great review Erin! I’m happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe.
Chef Murph K.T. says
Love the recipe Chef. Will be using it for a dinner party. Found your instruction to be priceless. All the best Chef Murph
A Jomes says
Surprisingly I tried this dish with salmon and I’m not a big fan of salmon, but my husband is so I cook it for him. Let me just say I now am a fan of salmon and I’ve cooked it many different ways and this is by far the best salmon recipe I’ve ever tried and it turned out MUY DELICIOSO! This recipe is simple, quick and yummy. I followed the recipe to the T minus the asparagus, I used spinach instead, and everything still turned out great. All credits to chef Dennis, I will be sure to follow more of your recipes. Lastly, the two things I like most about this recipe was the simplicity and how, once the salmon was done the flavor so perfectly popped in my mouth, 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ all day.
Chef Dennis Littley says
Great job making this recipe your own! I was never a big fan of salmon until I started using Pacific salmon, I’ve got a lot of great recipes for salmon on my site that you might enjoy.
Thanks for leaving a great comment!
Larry says
This looks absolutely outstanding Chef. I’ve yet to cook Halibut that I liked and think I always get it over done, but I have some very nice grouper I’ll try for the recipe.
Chef Dennis Littley says
Thanks Larry, cooking fish correctly can be really challenging it just takes a minute for it to be overdone.
Monica says
We made this for New Year’s Eve, using jumbo lump crabmeat, and it was FANTASTIC! Absolutely delicious in its simplicity. My husband and I both loved it. Thank you, Chef Dennis!
Chef Dennis Littley says
I’m very happy to hear you enjoyed the dish Monica, I hope it helped make New Years Eve memorable!
Kim | a little lunch says
Dennis, I looked at your halibut dinner photos and thought: “What a carnival of flavors and colors — playful and appealing!” Then I read through your post about the “busy” comment and had to smile. Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion. Personally, I think a white plate would take away all the fun. Don’t change a thing!
RavieNomNoms says
This looks amazing!!!! Yum
Chef Dennis Littley says
Thanks Raven, it was sooo good!
Gwendolyn Stange says
I have enjoyed many of your recipes. As much as I love sea food and fresh water fish. you can bet this will be on the menu at lease once a week.
Chef Dennis Littley says
I’m always happy to hear from my readers about my recipes and very happy to hear that you’ve been enjoying them.
Robyn @ Simply Fresh Dinners says
Hi Chef Dennis,
Love halibut and love this recipe. Great ingredient combination! I like halibut as much as salmon and if it wasn’t so expensive, I’d be eating it 3 times a week! I will definitely make this along with the roasted potatoes because I seem to have a thing for them lately after a lifetime of avoiding potatoes!
Thanks for a lovely, clean recipe 🙂
Chef Dennis Littley says
thanks for stopping by my blog Coach, glad you enjoyed the recipe!