Ingredients:
Halibut
salt and pepper and grape seed oil
For the salad:
One fennel bulb
2 handfulls of cherry tomatoes
Handful of pine nuts
one bunch of fresh arugula
1/4 cup of chopped fresh basil
1/2 cup of chopped taggiasche olives
1 tsp of Dijon mustard
1 tsp of honey
1 tsp of white wine vinegar
1 TBS of fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup of good olive oil
Salt and pepper
Diced shallots
For the base of the dish
Either steamed green beans or asparagus
Poached new potatoes
Directions:
Season the halibut with grape seed or olive oil and salt and pepper.
For the salad:
Use a mandolin to shave the fennel bulb as thin as possible. If you don't have a mandolin (go buy one :-)). If not, try to slice it as thin as possible with a knife.
Slice the tomatoes in half
For the dressing:
Combine the olive oil, diced shallots, white wine vinegar, chopped basil, salt, pepper, lemon juice, olives, dijon and honey together and soak the sliced tomatoes in the dressing. This way the tomatoes will leak their juices into the dressing.
Rough chop the arugula and set aside.
When ready to serve, toss the dressing into the arugula and fennel. Add the pine nuts and taste. Season with more salt if need be.
Steam the beans or asparagus and toss in some butter and S&P. Add steamed or poached potatoes if you so desire.
For the halibut:
Turn oven to 400F. Heat an oven proof pan until very hot. Add some grape seed oil (doesn't burn as quickly as Olive oil). Then place the halibut meat side down for 1 min or until golden brown. Then flip and place the skin side down and sear for 30 seconds then put the pan in the oven for roughly 5-10 minutes or until the halibut is 'just cooked' ( As soon as the center of the halibut goes from grey to white, its done.)
Plate the asparagus or beans down first, place the new potatoes around the edges, then place the halibut skin side down over the beans and top the halibut with fennel salad.