Halibut With Tomato Salsa

After seeing Brian's halibut dish, I decided I would make some for dinner. This really tasted great. The tomato salsa was excellent.

Halibut with Tomato Salsa

■5 cocktail sized on the vine tomatoes, some cut in half and some cut in quarters

■2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
■1/2 of a lemon
■1 tsp finely chopped fresh red chili pepper
■pinch of dried thyme
■two splashes of white wine
■salt and pepper (to season the fish)
■olive oil

The Method

For the Salsa:

1.Heat a bit of olive oil over medium heat in a non stick frying pan.

2.Add the garlic and sautee for a minute. Reduce the heat to medium-low, add the tomatoes, chili pepper and juice of half a lemon and sautee for another 4 minutes.
3.Add the thyme and stir.
4.Add the wine and stir until wine is reduced to about 1/4 of the volume, about another 3 minutes.

For the Halibut

1.Rinse the filet, and pat it dry with paper towels. Get it as dry as possible.

2.Season the flesh side with salt and pepper.
3.Heat a bit of olive oil over medium-high heat in a non stick frying pan.
4.When the oil is hot, add the halibut, skin side down.
5.Let it cook skin side down for 6 minutes. Now, the key is not to move the filet, just let it cook. It will look like it’s sticking to the pan, but when it’s ready to flip it will release from the pan very easily.
6.After 6 minutes, lower the heat to medium, flip the halibut and let it cook flesh side down for about 4 minutes (again, don’t move it until it moves easily).
7.Depending on how thick your filet is, you may need another few minutes at this point. If you do, flip the fish back onto its skin side for the remainder of the time. I gave mine another 2 minutes. When the fish is completely opaque and flakes easily it is ready.
8.Plate the fish, skin side down, squeeze some more lemon juice on it and spoon the tomato salsa over it.
9.Serve.