Halibut’s flaky, buttery texture mingles with saucy, anise-spiked braised fennel in this impressive meal. It gets a bit of zest from orange browned butter sauce that ties the dish together beautifully. Add your favorite crunchy salt on top for a restaurant-quality finish.
Ingredients
Braised Fennel
2 tablespoons blended oil
2 shallots, finely minced
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
6 bulbs baby fennel, cut in half lengthwise, fronds removed and saved
1 cup Pernod or any anise flavored liquor
2 cups fish or chicken stock
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into cubes
½ tablespoon kosher salt
Pan-Roasted Halibut
4 (6oz) pieces halibut
Kosher salt
Ground white pepper
¼ cup sunflower seed oil
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 oranges, zested and juiced
Garnish
Fennel fronds
Flakey sea salt
Preparation
- Braised Fennel: In a large fry pan gently warm the blended oil over medium heat, add shallots, garlic and cook until aromatic.
- Place fennel in and continue to cook until browning begins. Turn the heat down to medium-low and flip the fennel over and add the wine and reduce by half.
- Add the stock and butter and simmer until reduced and the sauce glazes the fennel. Reduce to very low and hold warm.
- Pan-Roasted Halibut: Generously season the halibut with salt and white pepper.
- Over medium-high heat the sunflower seed oil until the pan is gently smoking, place halibut into the pan and sear until golden brown for about 4 minutes. Flip the halibut using a fish spatula and add butter and orange juice and zest.
- Allow the butter to slightly brown while basting the fish continuously for 2-3 minutes or until you begin to see coagulated proteins.
- Remove the halibut from the pan and transfer to a small plate.
- Arrange a few pieces of the braised fennel on each plate and top with a piece of halibut. Generously spoon over the orange brown butter and garnish with fennel fronds and flakey sea salt.