Spiced Halibut

It's hard to believe that almost one year ago we were hiking across glaciers and avoiding bears up in Alaska! Now we're sweating buckets and avoiding mosquitos in Vietnam — big change! If you remember from my post on our time in Alaska, we went halibut fishing in Homer and came home with over twenty pounds of halibut filets (caught by us!). We've really enjoyed using them up over the year, and timed it pretty perfectly — I cooked our last pound of fish three days before we left for Vietnam!

Halibut is usually cooked very simply, without much seasoning, and served with lemon. Most people love it this way! I find it a bit boring. It took us a while to figure out exactly how to cook our halibut, but once we found our preferred way: we stuck to it. We use this recipe (which is usually eyeballed) every time we cook halibut, but then eat it in a variety of ways. Sometime we have it as it's pictured here, in large chunks with some sides, other times we have smaller pieces and make tacos, burritos, or even put it in a salad! You really can't go wrong.

When McCormick Spices sent me a generous box of spices and fish-related foods a few weeks ago, I was thrilled to see it included so many of the spices I already use and love when cooking fish! They also sent some products that were new to me — including one spice mix that, after reading the ingredients, is actually quite similar to this mix. I used it one night when I was feeling super lazy, and just dumped it in with some flour to bread the fish. Easy! I was sorry our timing was off with using up the whole box of goodies they sent, but I left it in good hands with friends who I know will use and enjoy the spices and sauces with some good Montana fish!

Making this fish is super easy: mix the spices and flour together, dredge the fish to coat both sides, and fry it up in about 1 cm of very hot oil! if your fish is really thick you may need to use slightly less heat in order to cook all the way through, but our fish is quite thin so I turn the heat up pretty high (I like my fish a little bit blackened!). I keep the oven heated to 200 F (like I do with pancakes!) to keep the finished pieces warm as I fry all of the fish. If you're making tacos, cut the fish into thinner strips and serve with plenty of lime and cilantro! And refried beans! Oooh man I miss refried beans! I have a feeling it might be a LONG time before I see them again!

Spiced Halibut

• Author: by Mary
• Prep Time: 5 mins
• Cook Time: 10 mins
• Total Time: 15 minutes
• Yield: 2-4 1x

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Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• oil for frying (I use olive, but canola would work)
• 1 lb fresh halibut fillets, cut into single-serving sizes
• ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp smoked paprika
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp oregano
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp fresh ground black pepper
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp ground cumin

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Instructions

1. Heat 1 cm of oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Preheat the oven to 200 F.
3. Rinse your fish and pat it dry. Cut into the size you want.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and all of the spices.
5. Dredge the fish in the dry mixture, coating all sides.
6. Fry the fish, turning once. Fry time will vary drastically depending on the thickness of your fish. For mine, I cook about 2-3 minutes on each side at a fairly high heat. You want the fish to be opaque all the way through.
7. Remove the fish from the pan and set in the oven on a paper towel-lined baking sheet until you are done frying all of the fish.

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While I did receive a box of free spices and supplies from McCormick, all thoughts and opinions are my own. I already used, and will continue to use, many of their amazing products!