Filet de Fletan, Mode de Chef

RH Staff

From: Executive chef Gregory Lizza, Fresh Cream Restaurant, Monterey, Calif.

Yield: 12 servings.

12 halibut filets, 6 oz. each
to taste, salt
to taste, pepper
as needed, olive oil
12 servings chive whipped potatoes, warm
for garnish, 24 fresh chives

ONION SAUCE:
4 large yellow onions
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 qt. water
1 Tbsp. butter, soft
to taste, salt
to taste, white pepper

RED WINE SAUCE:
1 750-ml. bottle Cabernet Sauvignon
4 oz. cassis
2 Tbsp. black currant or blackberry preserves

CHIVE OIL:
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup grapeseed oil
2 bunches fresh chives
4 sprigs fresh Italian parsley
1 tsp. salt to taste, white pepper

For halibut: Season halibut with salt and pepper. Place fish in hot pan with olive oil and roast in 450°F oven for 3 minutes. Turn fish and roast for approximately three more minutes. Do not overcook.

For onion sauce: Sautè onion in olive oil over medium heat until onions are tender and golden. Add water and reduce by half. Place mixture in blender. Add butter and purèe until smooth. Add salt and pepper.

For red wine sauce: Combine all ingredients in heavy saucepan. Slowly reduce to a syrup consistency. Strain through a fine sieve and reserve until ready to serve.

For chive oil: Combine all ingredients in a food processor. Process for two minutes. Strain through a coffee filter. Reserve until ready to serve.

To serve: Put sauces in squirt bottles. Put whipped potatoes in pastry bag with star tip. Using large dinner plate, pipe a serving of potatoes in circular motion in center of plate, using enough to be a base for the halibut. Warm potatoes on plate. Make a ring of onion sauce around potatoes. Make of ring of red wine sauce outside the onion sauce, and squirt the chive oil as the outer ring. Place halibut on potatoes and spike two chives upright into potatoes to give height. Garnish plate with edible flowers, as desired.

Photo Credit - National Onion Association