Breadcrumb Crusted Halibut with Beurre Blanc

The last time I went home my mom had stacked Bon Appétit magazines from the 90’s in my room. Lucky, lucky, lucky me! The November 1993 issue was entitled “The American Album: Our Delicious History”. How apropos!

One of the articles was about dishes served at various “Places in History”. While all of the dishes looked delicious, I had most of the ingredients for the dish from The New Harmony Inn – Baked Red Snapper with Sesame Shrimp Topping and Beurre Blanc. You might be thinking, ”Huh? That sounds nothing like what you made”, and you would be correct but I REALLY didn’t want to go to store. I promise that after the first bite you will have changed your tune to “What missing ingredients?”

Halibut (or Red Snapper)

Bon Appetit November 1993

• 2 cups fresh white breadcrumbs
• ½ lb uncooked small shrimp (I eliminated these, but how could the addition of baby shrimp be a bad thing?)
• ½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted
• ¼ cup sesame seeds
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
• ½ teaspoon ground white pepper
• 4 8-ounce red snapper or halibut filets (skin on)
• ½ lemon

Combine the first 7 ingredients in a medium bowl. Place fish in an oven-safe dish. Season with salt and pepper (I used two pinches of sea salt and ½ teaspoon of fresh ground pepper. I like to limit my salt, so you might want more.) Press shrimp mixture evenly over top of fish. Cover and refrigerate.

Preheat oven to 350°. Bake fish uncovered until cooked through (flakes easily with a fork). My filets were fairly thick so it took about 30 minutes.

I used breadcrumbs made from the potato bread I made a bit ago…you remember, it came out short and squat but amazingly delicious. See Sunday’s post for a quick tutorial on turning any bread into breadcrumbs! I decided to try and save a few calories by only using half the buttered crumbs called for as the topping.  Such a bad call. I had to stop myself from eating half of them before they made it on the fish.

Beurre Blanc

• 1 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup whipping cream
• ½ cup (1 stick) butter, cut into pieces (unsalted)
• Ground white pepper & salt to taste

Simmer wine and cream in a heavy saucepan until reduced to ½ cup, about 20 minutes. (fish & sauce (no butter) can be prepared 2 hours ahead). Right before serving gradually add butter pieces, whisking just until melted. Season with salt and white pepper. Add a pinch at a time and then taste. My sauce took way longer than 20 minutes, so eventually, my impatience got the best of me and I just finished it off with the butter and served it. Not the most visually appealing, but just as tasty!

Here are instructions for how to make the Roasted Asparagus seen in the photos. It was a perfect addition to the meal!

Roasted Asparagus

Preheat oven to 400°. Trim tough ends from asparagus spears. Spread on rimmed baking sheet and drizzle asparagus with a light coating of olive oil (start with a teaspoon) and season with a pinch of salt and pepper (to taste).  Bake at 400° until a fork can easily be inserted into a spear but it is still reasonably firm. Turn asparagus after 5 minutes. The time with vary drastically depending on the thickness of the asparagus.