Fish in a Hurry: Easy Pan-Seared Halibut using my Favorite Marinade
I really enjoy eating a piece of nice firm fish and nothing is quicker than making an easy Pan-Seared Halibut for a delicious dinner on a busy weeknight.
When I was a child, we ate a lot of fresh seafood, particularly fish. My paternal grandmother owned a fish stall in the local wet market and we would always get the best cut of fish regularly. My Dad prefers a whole fish, gutted, scaled and cleaned, with head and tail intact that is steamed with a light dressing of minced ginger, scallions and oil. That’s it. One of the things I always remember dad saying is to never mess around with a beautiful cut of fresh fish. When the fish is fresh, there isn’t any need to disguise it with sauce and other spices. The fish I eat at home would always be cooked to perfection by my mom. Every morsel is tender, achingly soft and oh-so delicious!
Where I live now, the freshest and best fish available is a large nice piece of wild caught Halibut fillet. Heeding my dad’s advice, I try not to do too much to it. So, when I was first learning how to cook this specific type of fish, you bet I did a whole bunch of research before landing on this recipe.
You can have dinner ready in under an hour. Hands-on time is about 10 minutes tops. The rest is just waiting for the fish fillets to marinate in this yummy lemon olive oil mixture. This recipe is adapted from NYTimes Cooking section by Alex Witchel. Here’s my version with tweaks adjusted to suit my taste.
Let’s cook!
Ingredients for Easy Pan-Seared Halibut
3 pcs 8 oz halibut fillets, skin removed
Marinade
6 Tbs olive oil
6 garlic cloves peeled and minced
1 inch fresh ginger peeled and minced
1 Tbs lemon zest
2 Tbs fresh lemon juice or the juice from ½ lemon
1 tsp dried basil or 1 Tbs of fresh basil
1 tsp kosher salt
½ tsp white pepper – optional
1 tsp black pepper
Cooking
2 tablespoon olive oil or vegetable oil
Garnish
Chopped parsley, cilantro or your favorite fresh herbs
You will also need a large saute or fry pan to cook the fish.
Putting it together
In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients for the marinade – the 6 tablespoons olive oil, garlic, ginger, lemon zest, lemon juice, basil, salt, and black pepper.
Next, add the fish, coat generously on all sides. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or up to 2 hours.
In a large flat frying pan, pour and spread oil evenly over pan. Warm over high heat until smoking, then add fish fillets. Brush top and sides with marinade.
Cook until seared, about 3 minutes; turn and sear other side, about 3 more minutes. Brush top and sides with marinade again. Reduce heat to medium.
Cook until centers of fillets are opaque, 2 to 4 minutes more on each side depending on thickness, brushing with marinade as before.
Garnish with chopped green herbs, and serve. Dinner is ready!
Notes on Easy Pan-Seared Halibut
- This recipe calls for about 1 and a half pounds of halibut fillet. You can easily cut it into 4 pieces for smaller servings, perfect for a lighter meal. No adjustments needed to the marinade.
- Halibut filet cooks rather quickly, depending on the thickness of the fillet. Watch the heat to make sure you don’t burn the fish!
- Reduce the amount of garlic if you are not fond of it.
- Feel free to add a bit of heat, a dash or two of tabasco sauce, sriracha sauce or a pinch of dried chili powder to spice up the marinade!
- I love to use fresh ground white Sarawak peppercorn when cooking with fish. I think it imparts a certain zing to the dish.
When I was researching on best type of fresh fish to eat, I found this handy article on the best fish to eat, their nutritional profile and how to cook them. Sharing here in case you are interested to check it out: https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/323661
Easy Pan-Seared Halibut
Equipment
- Large frying pan
Ingredients
- 3 pcs 8 oz halibut fillets skin removed
Marinade
- 6 Tbs olive oil
- 6 garlic cloves peeled and minced
- 1 inch fresh ginger peeled and minced
- 1 Tbs lemon zest
- 2 Tbs fresh lemon juice or the juice from ½ lemon
- 1 tsp dried basil or 1 Tbs of fresh chopped basil
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ½ tsp white pepper optional
- 1 tsp black pepper
Cooking
- 2 tablespoon olive oil or vegetable oil
Garnish
- Chopped parsley, cilantro or your favorite fresh herbs
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the 6 tablespoons olive oil, garlic, ginger, lemon zest, lemon juice, basil, salt, and pepper. Add fish, coat generously on all sides. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or up to 2 hours.
- In a large flat frying pan, pour and spread oil evenly over pan. Warm over high heat until smoking, then add fish fillets. Brush top and sides with marinade. Cook until seared, about 3 minutes; turn and sear other side, about 3 more minutes. Brush top and sides with marinade again. Reduce heat to medium. Cook until centers of fillets are just opaque, 2 to 4 minutes more on each side depending on thickness.
- Garnish with chopped green herbs, and serve.
Notes
More Flavorful Ideas:
If you love fish, but only have the canned stuff, check out my post on making delicious tuna cakes here => Easy Canned Tuna Cakes – I made these for my Husband’s Birthday! Yes, it’s so tasty my husband wanted those for his birthday dinner!
Have you ever wonder how to make those round tasty tortilla? Well, let me show you how it’s done using 5 easy pantry ingredients! Check out my post here => Back to Basics: How to Make Delicious Soft Flour Tortillas
For another quick dinner idea, please check out my latest post on how I used Jacques Pepin’s “en papillote” method of cooking in a foil pouch to whip up a hearty delicious meal with minimal clean up! => Quick Sausage En Papillote: Awesome Recipe from Jacques Pepin
