Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Seared Halibut with Cherry Tomato Vinaigrette and Potato Pancakes

If you haven't picked up yet on my love of all things Costco, I am a huge fan. John and I drive 30 minutes across town for the cheese, wine and fish selections in particular. The Alaskan Halibut that they bring in occasionally is exceptional. I had a few pieces in the freezer so I perused a few online recipe for ideas. I found this one on foodandwine.com and decided to give it a try. http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/pan-seared-halibut-with-tomato-vinaigrette For those of you paying attention, I actually tried their "roasted salmon with tomato vinaigrette" a few months ago. Very very delicious as well. The tomato vinaigrettefor this one is different from the salmon recipe and equally as delicious. I used approximately one cup of grape tomatoes (still working on my stash from my mom's garden) and I halved the remainder of the recipe for two servings. I also made a few adjustments based on what I had available at home: *Substituted fresh oregano for chives *Substituted champagne vinegar for white balsamic *went with a full tablespoon of parsley *added one teaspoon of capers *substituted coriander for ground fennel I'm telling you this stuff is GOOD. You could eat on any fish or grilled meat or even as a dip or bruschetta topping. John finished up early at the hospital today and offered to make dinner. When I told him that I'd planned to make the halibut, he offered to make some homemade potato pancakes to go with it! I had to give him a food processor tutorial over the phone from work which to the person in the cube next to me must have sounded a little strange... He decided on an Emeril recipe and it was fantastic. He assembed them earlier in the day and had them ready to go in the fridge when I got home. While I seared the halibut, he browned the potato pancakes in a cast iron skillet. He used a rocks glass to press them flat in the pan which was the perfect way to maximize the crispy brown crust on each side. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/potato-pancakes-recipe/index.html They came out perfectly- the fresh lemon and parsley tied in really nicely with the flavors of the fish. Lastly we steamed some fresh broccoli and seasoned with a little salt, pepper and squeeze of lemon juice. Not to shabby for an easy weeknight meal! Will definitely circle back to this one in the future. John doesn't drink much white wine so with dinner we sampled an inexpensive Costco Zinfandel from Lodi, California called 7 Deadly Zins. As I've said before, Costo's prices on wine are SIGNIFICANTLY better than your local grocery store- by our calculations, an $8 bottle there is a $13 dollar bottle at the grocery. They don't have a huge selection but you can trust that the wines the bring in are good. We actually don't know much about Zinfandels and therefore rarely pick them up but this one was quite nice. It was bold but didn't overwhelm the flavors of the meal.

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