One of my husband’s students brought him two nice pieces of halibut from an Alaskan fishing trip and they’ve been stored in the freezer waiting for a nice cold, winter day like this one. I just wanted to make something simple that wouldn’t mask the fish, so a simple bake with a lime butter sauce seemed like a good idea, especially since I had a few limes left over from the Key Lime Cheesecake I made for our Super Bowl dessert (sorry I didn’t write about that; follow the link to the excellent recipe).
The halibut came out very nice, a meaty fish, mild, and well-served by the light lime-butter sauce, but most of the web instructions to cook the frozen filet pieces for 10 minutes per half inch of thickness were way off. I had to double that.
Baked Halibut with Lime Butter
Preheat oven to 450°
Original Lime Butter Sauce recipe.
Make lime-butter sauce:
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 clove garlic, peeled
1/2-1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
1 stick butter, melted
Zest of 1 lime
- In a blender, process the lime juice, garlic, and salt and pepper until the garlic is fully incorporated.
- While still running at a low speed, pour the melted butter in through the lid opening, blending until emulsified.
- Pour into a container and stir in lime zest.
Baked halibut:
frozen halibut filets or pieces of filets or halibut steaks (I had two pieces of a large filet)
lime-butter sauce
olive oil
- Put small amount of oil in bottom of ovenproof dish.
- Lay fish, skin side down, in dish. Drizzle a little more oil over fish. Spoon half the lime-butter sauce over frozen fish.
- Bake at 450° until done, basting with pan juices, if desired. Flesh will be white all the way through when done, which you can test with a sharp knife. Most web instructions suggest that 10 minutes per 1/2 inch thickness will be enough, but it took twice that for my fish to be fully cooked. Still, I would cook the fish from its frozen state to preserve a fresh taste.
- Serve with remaining sauce.
The final result was a mild fish flavor with a meaty texture. The lime-butter sauce was a terrific complement to the fish that did not mask the taste of the fish.
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