Other People’s Recipes: Paleo Halibut

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Yesterday, Jim celebrated his 81st birthday. We don’t eat out much anymore, but I wanted him to have a special dinner. That meant halibut.

I don’t know what halibut costs where you live, but here, it runs about $30 a pound. Calling for a no-fail recipe. A no-fail Paleo recipe.

I scoured the Internet looking for one that would work for us, and finally did what I do. Put four recipes together, adding and subtracting ingredients, threw in a few of my own touches, and came up with an almond-meal crusted fish that didn’t disappoint.

I added mashed cauliflower as the side. The fish came out moist and tender, and lemony with a touch of crunch from the almond meal. If only I could’ve figured out how to remove the skin before cooking …

  • 2 halibut filets, not too thick
  • 2-3 TBSP almond meal
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • 1 tsp dry parsley
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  • 2 TBSP olive oil
  • 2 TBSP butter (thank goodness butter’s back) plus 1/2 tsp butter for sauce
  • 1/3-1/2 cup low-sodium vegetable broth
  • juice of 1-2 lemons depending on how much ‘sauce’ you want

Combine the almond meal, lemon zest, parsley, salt and pepper in a shallow bowl. Pat the halibut filets dry and dredge them in the almond meal mixture. Using a large frying pan, heat the oil and butter together until they bubble, then add the filets, making sure they aren’t touching.

How long you cook them on each side depends on the thickness of your filet. Mine were about an inch thick, and I cooked them 3 minutes per side. When the fish is opaque, remove the filets from the pan and keep warm. I put mine in the microwave–don’t turn it on–which seems to keep things warm without overcooking.

Add the lemon juice to the pan–watch out for splatter–and then the vegetable broth. Cook, stirring pretty much constantly, until reduced by half, then add the remaining tsp of butter. When it melts, plate your fish and veg, with the sauce poured over the plate. The sauce is a bit syrupy rather than thick. 

Enjoy.

 

 

Fall Over No More

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Found this pair in a junk store four years ago. Problem was, they kept falling over in the wind. Now they have no feet, but they are impervious to the Kansas wind.

Thanks, Jim!

Face Book still sends me birthday messages. Avner, Renae, and Janet–hope you see your HAPPY BIRTHDAY on the blog! Hope this is your best year ever.

Times When I Thought I Needed Facebook

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I deactivated Face Book on April 1. Here it is, April 27, almost 30 days without FB, which before deactivation took at least an hour—and probably more—of my time each day. But. What have I missed?

  • Wishing happy birthday to my FB friends. One FB perk was the message it sends to remind me today’s so-and-so’s birthday. Wish them happy. I guess if I remember in time, I’ll wish folks a happy birthday here on the blog. Or send a snail mail card. If I forget, forgive me. I stopped keeping track of dates when FB started.
  • Finding out the hours of operation for some of the odder places I want to shop. Now you’d think I could ask Alexa or Siri or Google, but without FB, I couldn’t find out when Sullivan’s Greenhouse is open–only Saturdays, in April and May, 9am to 4pm. For that one I had to ask my husband to check his FB page.
  • Happenings in my groups. I especially miss all my African Violet and Daylily friends. I wish some of them had followed me here.

Will I reactivate FB for these reasons? Dunno. Maybe. But that extra hour a day is nice to have, and I surely don’t miss all the political wrangling.

In fact, I’m thinking of leaving Twitter…

Oh, and the red tulip? It comes up every year, it’s the only red tulip in the yard, and the blog gurus tell me to use photos to attract readers. Hope it works.