RECIPE: Halibut Poached in Red Wine
With bourguignon garnish and red wine sauce.
Week 8, vol. 2
Welcome new readers!
I’m very excited for this week’s recipe - it’s a quick (ok, relatively quick) and easy cook that’s visually striking, and introduces an interesting flavour combination of red wine and fish.
A few things I hope you’ll take away from this recipe:
How to make a butter reduction red wine sauce - It’s an effortless technique, and goes well with any red meat (or sometimes, fish!).
The magic of the sous vide - The sous vide shines here, enabling a more precise cook, whilst saving more wine to drink. What’s not to love? I’ve included a stove top alternative, but seriously, just get a sous vide and embrace the revolution.
If you do try the recipe, I’d love to hear about it in the comments, or you can hit me up via email. Happy cooking!
Halibut Poached in Red Wine
Serves 4
The red wine sauce is somewhat optional if you’re being diet-conscious (it’s a lot of butter). But it tastes really good (because it’s a lot of butter).
Total time: 1h 15m
Red wine sauce
Total time: 45m
Equipment:
Medium saucepan
Cheesecloth / muslin (optional but recommended)
Ingredients:
500ml chicken stock - I use Knorr Chicken Bouillon Paste
100ml red wine - any cheapish medium-full bodied red is fine
1tsp redcurrant jelly - I use Tiptree
1 celery stick, roughly sliced
1 banana shallot (aka Echalion shallot), roughly sliced
40g frozen blueberries or blackberries - doesn’t need to be exact, it’s basically a small handful. You can use fresh berries too.
100g unsalted butter, roughly cubed
Method:
Add all the ingredients EXCEPT the butter to a saucepan on medium and bring to a boil to make the sauce base. Reduce heat to a simmer until the sauce base has reduced by approximately half (about 20-25 minutes) - this should leave you with about 250ml of sauce base.
Pass through a sieve lined with 4 layers of muslin into a bowl or jug. Cover and allow to cool to room temperature.
Measure out 250ml of sauce base and pour into a saucepan.
Add the cubed butter to the saucepan and heat on high until boiling. It should be bubbling fairly vigorously, like you’re making caramel. Turn down to medium; the bubbling will slow after about 10 minutes. The sauce should thicken and coat the back of a spoon.
Tricks & Techniques: this is where the magic happens - the bubbling emulsifies the sauce without any whisking or blending, resulting in a thick, luxurious sauce.
Troubleshooting: If you heat the sauce for too long, the emulsion can split - you’ll see separated layers of oil and watery sauce. Don’t panic, it’s because too much water has been boiled off. Add 4-5 tablespoons of cold water, give it a quick stir with a whisk, and heat it up again until it returns to the bubbling stage.
Pass through a sieve again, and serve immediately, or keep somewhere warm until ready to serve.
Halibut Poached in Red Wine
Total time: 1h 15m
Equipment:
Sous vide and vacuum sealer (the immersion sealing method doesn’t work very well here) - alternatively, a wide saucier / saucepan and an instant-read thermometer
Large non-stick frying pan
Medium saucepan
Small saucepan / frying pan
Ingredients:
4 skinless, boneless portions of halibut, about 150g each
Red wine sauce - see above
Red wine poaching liquid
Note: if using a saucier / saucepan, you’ll need to use a full bottle of wine and 100ml of chicken stock.
400ml red wine - Use anything between a Grenache on the lighter side, or a Sangiovese for something more medium-bodied. Just be sure it’s a bottle that you would actually enjoy drinking, not some cheap swill from the bottom shelf at the supermarket.
1 bay leaf
1 garlic clove, peeled and sliced
50ml chicken stock - I use Knorr Chicken Bouillon Paste
Bourguinon garnish
2 tbsp butter
120g streaky bacon, sliced into lardons - preferably thick-cut bacon
160g spinach
24 baby onions or small shallots, peeled
300g mixed mushrooms - I used girolles, oysters, shiitake, and shimeji, but feel free to get creative here
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Method:
Make the red wine poaching liquid by boiling the wine in a medium saucepan until reduced by half (about 15-20 minutes). Add the bay leaf, garlic and chicken stock, bring it back to a boil, then turn off the heat immediately. Leave to infuse for 10 minutes, then strain through a sieve and allow to cool.
Place the individual halibut portions in vacuum bags with 75ml of the cooled poaching liquid, and seal gently on the ‘liquid’ setting. Set sous vide to 49°C / 120°F and cook for 30 minutes. For a more traditional, flaky texture, use 54°C / 129°F.
Alternatively, heat the red wine poaching liquid to 65°C / 149°F in a saucier / saucepan, and very gently poach the halibut for 10 minutes, checking the temperature occasionally with a thermometer to avoid over-cooking. If using this method, you’ll be starting the onions and mushrooms (i.e. step 3 below) at the same time as poaching the fish.
When the halibut is 15 minutes from completion, heat the butter in a large non-stick frying pan on medium-high heat. Add the baby onions and mushrooms, and pan fry until the butter has been absorbed, the onions are light golden brown, and the mushrooms are tender (about 7-8 minutes). Then add the lardons and continue frying until browned (about 2-3 more minutes). Season with salt and pepper and keep warm.
Wilt the spinach with a few tablespoons of water in a small saucepan or frying pan on medium heat (2-3 minutes).
To finish, place an even layer of wilted spinach on each plate. Carefully lay a portion of halibut on top of the spinach. Surround it with the mixture of mushrooms, onions, and bacon, and spoon over some of the poaching liquid from the vacuum bag / saucier. Lastly, spoon the red wine sauce (if using) over the fish to glaze it.
Final assembly.
Timing Grid
This grid is designed to help you plan your cooking if you’re making multiple components from the dish. Coloured blocks indicate active cooking time.
I’ve set the timings so that you’ll be multi-tasking the red wine sauce and the poached halibut (I believe in you!). But you can also just make the red wine sauce first and reheat it later for a more relaxing cook.
Equipment and Ingredients
Tamis sieve - I find these much more versatile than conical sieves, because you can push purées and thicker sauces through them more easily. Also great for sifting flour.
Cheesecloth / muslin - For whatever reason, cheesecloth pricing can vary wildly between products (2-3x more per square foot), so it helps to shop around. Cheesecloth can be washed in the washing machine and reused a few times.
Sous vide - Anova is the only brand I’ve used, and starts at £129 for the Nano. I have an old first gen Anova that’s going strong after 7 years. Amazon has cheaper options starting from £45, but I can’t attest to their quality. I’m a broken record, but in my opinion, a sous vide is THE best value piece of kitchen equipment - it makes guaranteed perfect food (a revelation for chicken breast and fish), and saves a ton of time. If you need more convincing, Serious Eats has a great piece.
Thermapen thermometer - Just trust me, bite the bullet, and pay the extra it costs over the cheap knockoff thermometers. This is one of those ‘Buy Nice or Buy Twice’ situations.
Chicken bouillon- Better than stock cubes and stock pots, because it’s less salty, which gives you a lot more control over the final taste.