Healthy Recipe: Halibut Provencal with Tomatoes and Zucchini

Mild, tender halibut fillets are among the easiest fish to cook due to their uniform thickness and take well to endless flavor combos. Here’s one you can’t go wrong with, adapted from the revised and updated edition of Virginia Willis’s “Bon Appetit, Y’all: Recipes and Stories from Three Generations of Southern Cooking.” The jewels of the season join forces with the fish, a few aromatics, and briny olives to create a light, nutrient-rich one-dish that tastes like summer. Pair it with rice, couscous, grits, or the grain of your choice to soak up some of those savory juices. Serves 3-4. – Susan Puckett

Ingredients

·         1 tablespoon olive oil

·         1 medium Vidalia or other onion, chopped

·         3 large cloves garlic, minced

·         1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme, plus thyme sprigs for garnish (or 1 teaspoon dried thyme)

·         2 small zucchini, chopped

·         2 large tomatoes, cored, seeded (if desired), and chopped

·         20 kalamata or other brine-cured black olives, pitted and halved1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

·         Salt and freshly ground black pepper

·         2 to 4 skinless halibut fillets or 1 whole fillet (16 to 24 ounces total)

·         Rice, grits, or couscous for serving

Instructions

1.      Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Heat a large, ovenproof skillet large enough to accommodate the fish with 1 tablespoon of the oil over medium-high heat.  (See note).

2.      Add the onion to the skillet and cook until soft and translucent, 2 or 3 minutes. Add the garlic and chopped or dried thyme and cook until fragrant, about a minute longer.

3.      Add the zucchini and tomatoes and cook until the vegetables are soft and the juices have thickened and evaporated somewhat, 5 to 7 minutes.

4.      Remove from the heat. Add the olives and vinegar and season to taste with salt and pepper. Nestle the fish fillets in the pan, spooning the vegetables and juices over them.

5.        Place the skillet in the oven and bake just until the fish is opaque in the center, about 10 minutes. Garnish with extra thyme sprigs if desired and serve over the grain of your choice.

NOTE: If your skillet isn’t large enough, you can place the fish fillets in a large casserole dish brushed with olive oil, as the author suggests, and spoon the cooked vegetables and sauce over them before baking. 

Susan Puckett is an Atlanta-based food writer and cookbook author.