Macadamia Nut Crusted Halibut on table
This recipe is for Macadamia Nut Crusted Halibut. It will serve about 2 people. We made this on Christmas Eve and even though the halibut is pictured with side dishes, this recipe will only cover the halibut. Once prepared, the dish will be tender, crunchy, mildly sweet and moist. This dish takes a significant amount of time to prepare, but it can be done easily alone. But if you share this Macadamia Nut Crusted Halibut with someone, he or she will probably like you more than the day before. A dish like this is expensive, because you are purchasing high-quality ingredients and fresh fish. But once you make it, you will feel like you just ate something from a fine dining restaurant. The key is to purchase high-quality, fresh halibut. So make sure it was not frozen. The fish should look good when you buy it, and it should be the proper thickness of an inch or so. If it is some kind of huge steak, that won’t work for this recipe. Also if the fish is too thin, it will too “bready” tasting. Here’s what you will need in terms of cookware:
1 x large saucepan: for preparing the sauce
1 x wok style pan: for simmering the fish in the sauce
1 x sturdy wooden cutting board: for smashing up the macadamia nuts and other miscellaneous tasks
1 x large sturdy dish: for breading the halibut
1 x casserole dish: for cooking the breaded halibut
…the usual assortment of knives, large forks, spatulas and other tools…
Once you double check that you have all those items it is time to get out your shopping list for ingredients. For the breading you will need:
1 x bag of macadamia nuts (an $8 bag is what we bought, but you might be able to find one for cheaper. It is good to keep them in the bag so that crushing them is easier and less messy. In the end you will be able to pour out the crushed nuts with ease)
1 x bag of salted oyster crackers
1 x handfull of flour
3 x pinches of salt
2 x egg whites
The key is to prepare the breading first. That way you will be able to focus on making the sauce. Since crushing the macadamia nuts is the trickiest thing to do, you should get that out of the way first. First crush the nuts while they are still in the bag. That way you don’t have to worry about them spilling all over the place. If you ended up getting the macadamia nuts in a jar then use your imagination and crush them up so they are small enough to stick to the fish, but are big enough to provide texture and flavor.
After you crush the macadamia nuts and but them in the wide and deep plate or bowl, start crushing the oyster crackers. Once the oyster crackers are pretty small mix them up with the macadamia nuts. If you want to have a less expensive dish you can always “cut” the breading by using more oyster crackers and less nuts. Then you should add some flour to the mix. Now you are are ready to prepare the halibut and sauce.
For the halibut and its sauce you will need the following items:
1.5 to 2 x lbs of halibut (FRESH … UNFROZEN) Cut into two pieces
1 x olive oil
1 x whole milk
1 x half – stick of salted butter
2 x cups of brown sugar
1 x quarter cup of sweet onions (cut into long pieces)
6 x dates (pitted and broken apart, UNSWEETENED)
butter brown sugar and milk
First take the large saucepan and put olive oil in it all around. And then heat the saucepan up really hot. Then put the half stick of butter in it. And let it sit there for about 5 seconds. Before it starts to get too burnt add a significant amount of milk and the brown sugar. The color should look similar to the picture on the right. Stir it up on medium heat. Add a few crushed macadamia nuts. (optional step) Then take the sweet onion slices and stir them in. The onion slices taste delicious with it if you just add a few. Then mix in a little bit of the egg whites. It should be about one-third of the total egg whites. Keep stirring and adjust the heat accordingly. Meanwhile you should have already washed and cut your fish. Your fish should be on some kind of plate waiting to be cooked. AT THIS TIME YOU SHOULD PRE-HEAT YOUR OVEN TO 350 degrees!
Now here is the fun part. Stir in the dates. This is going to make your sauce so yummy and gourmet. If you have a little flour left over add that also, but not too much…just a pinch. Keep stirring and taste it occasionally to see if it is ready to use with the fish. Remember you are going to cook the fish in this sauce first, then you will bake the fish. So this sauce should be slightly sweet to medium sweet. If it is too sweet this fish will be overwhelming.
halibut cooking in pan
Once the sauce is to the desired taste, put in on medium heat and prepare your wok-style-pan with olive oil. Heat up the pan so it is HOT and then pour in the sauce. The sauce should be bubbling and very hot. Then put the fish in the wok pan and let it be partially submerged. It should look like the picture on the left while cooking the first side.Wait until the color of the fish changes. The bottom should turn to white and the top should be pinkish as pictured. That is when you should flip the fish. Then cook the fish and cover it with the sauce gently. If you stir too aggressively, the fish will break. After a few more minutes turn off the heat and remove the first fish piece from the wok. The fish shouldn’t cook in the wok more than twelve to fifteen minutes.
Take the piece of halibut using a spatula and gently bread it with the macadamia nut breading that you made earlier. After the first layer of crust is on the fish, gently add some egg whites to the halibut and then add some more breading. Then carefully place the breaded halibut piece in the casserole dish.
Finished Macadamia Crusted Halibut - with other side dishes
Repeat this process for the other piece of halibut. Then put the casserole dish in the oven which was preheated to 350 degrees. It should bake for about fifteen minutes. (give or take a few, depending on how long you cooked it in the wok) After it is done cooking the halibut should be nicely crusted. In the picture to the right we added some side dishes. So experiment and think of things that would go well with this. This is a dish best served warm to hot. But it should taste very tender. If you did it right the sweetness of the sauce should permeate every bite and the halibut should have actually expanded in size. As you may note in the picture there is a smaller piece that is breaded. That is because part of the halibut broke off when I was stirring it. So I breaded that piece separately. It is OK because the smaller pieces are like candy crunchy bits. But it is preferable to keep your fish piece in tact, if possible.
-Tyler
