Last night I made a delicious, light and healthy dinner. It was a hit with my husband, and Lucy as well. I served pistachio crusted halibut and a roasted pepper and avocado salad. It was easy to make and was delightful to consume. I hope you enjoy this one as much as we did. The ratios I am giving below will feed 2 (and a Lucy).
Roasted pepper and avocado salad ingredients:
1 bell pepper, any color will do but I prefer red for this.
1 large tomato, I used 3 small because that is what I had on hand
1 avocado
1/4 C cubed, fresh mozzarella cheese
chives to taste
sprinkle of roasted pine nuts
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
To start, you are going to need to roast your bell pepper. To do this, all you have to do is char the outside of the pepper by placing it on an open flame, it's super easy. I just turn my stove on and place the pepper right above the flame, resting it on the pot support area. Once it is charred on the section that is facing the flame, rotate the pepper and char the next area. Do this until the whole pepper has been roasted. Once your pepper is covered in black, remove it from the flame and allow it to rest for a minute. Once it is slightly cooled, scrape the black char off of you pepper with a knife, spoon, whatever. It will come off easily. Now, you should have a perfectly juicy, roasted pepper to work with! Just cut it as you would a normal bell pepper, and make it into small, squarish bite sized pieces. Cube your tomato, mozzarella, chop your chives, and combine everything in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper, and drizzle lightly with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Garnish with roasted pine nuts, and it's ready to serve!
Your pepper should look similar to this before you scrape it clean. I had already started the scraping process before I took this picture.
2 .25 lb pieces of halibut, cleaned and prepared
1 C salted pistachio nuts, shelled
1 egg
splash of ice water
flour for dusting (optional)
pepper
butter
extra virgin olive oil
To make, preheat your oven to 350. Add nuts to a food processor and crush them until they are almost powdery. Small chunks are just fine, you don't want to over process though. Place crushed nuts on a plate or in a bowl. Crack egg in a small bowl and whisk in a splash of ice water. Season your halibut with pepper (don't salt it, the pistachios have enough salt already). This is where you can sprinkle with flour. I didn't and my crust still stuck on just fine. Submerge your fish in egg wash and then coat in pistachios. Immediately place on a well buttered/oiled hot stove top pan that can be transferred into the oven. Sear the halibut, until the pistachios are toasted and the fish has started to cook, about 2 minutes a side. Once you have seared your fish, place the pan in a heated oven for about 5 minutes. The amount of time your fish needs in the oven will depend on the thickness of your cut of fish. Thinner cuts will need less time in the oven than thicker cuts. Remove from oven, once the fish is cooked through, and serve immediately.
I hope you enjoy this easy, fast, and healthy recipe. It's one of our favorites!
** This would be delicious with a brown buttered sage sauce, although I did not serve that with ours last night.
