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Halibut Steaks Poached in Curried Coconut Milk with Golden Beets and Onions

April 19th, 2010

That’s quite a title, eh?

I’ve mentioned in previous posts that I’ve been trying to “Eat Primal,” and while it’s true that I haven’t had a single french fry, piece of bread, grain of rice or tortilla chip in about two weeks solid, I am not about to eat underwhelming food.

Tonight, for dinner, I knew two things: I had some golden beets in my fridge that needed to be cooked and I really was craving seafood of some description.  I had told myself that I would do something with the beets as a side but upon skimming through my cookbook, How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman, I was inspired to poach these halibut steaks with the beets and onions and all together.

I did not, however, have fish stock, as Mr. Bittman requested, nor did I really want to do the poaching with carrots and celery (I had some of those last night).  I did, however, have a whole mess of coconut milk, golden beets and onion.

So here’s what I made.  It’s really an amazing dish, surely deserving of a more illustrious night than a Monday, and sure to impress your friends.  It isn’t that difficult but will involve a bit of prep. You also will want to invest in a digital thermometer for this kind of cooking: if you overcook the fish, it will flat-out disintegrate.  Done gently, it is succulent and firm, with an amazing sweetness.

This is the one I own. Do yourself a favor and spend the $20 bucks. Your meat will thank you. Really.

Ingredients

• 2 halibut steaks, about 1.5″ to 2″ thick
• 1 can coconut milk
• 3 golden beets, diced
• 1 medium sized sweet onion, diced
• 1.5 teaspoons curry powder
• white wine
• coconut oil (or other cooking oil)
• sea salt

Tools

• Large skillet
• Casserole dish (enough to hold the steaks and plenty of liquid and veggies)
• Digital thermometer with cord

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350-deg F.
2. Dice your beets and onions to about 1/2″ cubes
3. Heat your oil in the skillet and add onions and beats, cooking until onion is translucent (don’t worry about those beets, they’ll get cooked through eventually).
4. Beets should start to share some of their color with the onions and there should be a decent fond forming on the bottom of the pan.  Deglaze with about 1/4-cup of white wine, scraping up the fond from the bottom of the pan.  Let the liquid cook away and get absorbed into the veggies.
5. While veggies are simmering, salt your halibut with a little of the sea salt (just a light dusting).
6. Now add your curry powder to the veggies and another 1/4 cup of the wine.  Add your can of coconut milk and stir, blending together. Bring liquid to a boil: the whole thing should now be a beautiful saffron color.
7. Turn the burner off under your coconut milk and veggies. Get out your casserole dish and ladle a few spoonfuls of liquid and veggies into the bottom.  Place your steaks on top of these veggies, then ladle the remaining liquid over the top.  You should have enough to just cover the steaks.  If they’re not covered completely, this is still okay.  Just make sure you ladle some liquid over the tops.
8. Place casserole dish in oven and skewer one of the steaks in it’s thickest part with your digital thermometer.  Set the timer to go off when the steaks reach 140-deg F.
   Note: If you don’t have a digital thermometer, shame on you, but the poaching will only take about 20 minutes.
9. When the timer goes off, remove the dish from the over and let it rest.  The temp will go up to about 145-deg F after it is removed from the oven.  This is “done” for fish and seafood. Any hotter than that you’re just doing the fish an injustice, not inconveniencing any parasites which already bit the dust around 140 or so.
10. Remove the steaks gently from the liquid with a spatula, spoon, tongs or all three: they will be slightly fragile! If you left the skin on the steaks you will want to remove it before plating (or you can eat it, too: I’m sure it’s tasty; I chose not to).
11. Place the steaks on a plate, add the veggies with a slotted spoon, then ladle enough liquid onto the plate to suit you.

Enjoy!  These are phenomenal: I’m getting hungry again just thinkin’ about ‘em.