Grilled Halibut with Garlic, Basil, and Lemon

The best thing about summer, in my opinion, is grilled food. Give me something from the grill, and I am a happy woman. These halibut steaks are no exception. Really, this is a tasty way to prepare any grilled white fish; but I decided to experiment with the thick, "meaty"-like texture of halibut steaks. Halibut is a firm, mild fish that holds up really well on the hot grates of a barbeque. It's one of my favorite grillin' fish around (maybe I like swordfish better, but it's in the top two). This recipe was simple and delicious. We paired our fish with a Caprese salad and a glass of white wine after our kids were in bed for the evening. (It's not that they wouldn't have enjoyed our fish dinner, it's just that we decided to feed them early so we could enjoy our fish dinner by ourselves.) Yum!

Grilled Halibut with Garlic, Basil, and Lemon
From: Kalyn's Kitchen website

Ingredients:
4-6 halibut steaks
3/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tsp. coarse ground black pepper
2 tsp. Spike Seasoning (optional, but good)
2 T garlic puree (or slightly less garlic powder but I think the garlic puree from a jar gives better flavor)
1 T dried basil

Directions:
Thaw the fish completely in refrigerator if frozen. Mix marinade ingredients (oil through basil). Put fish in Zip-loc bag or plastic container with a snap-tight lid, arranging it in a single layer. Pour marinade over and marinate in refrigerator for 2-3 hours. (Turn it over a few times if you're home. Don't marinate it too much longer than this or the marinade will start to "cook" the fish.)

When you're ready to cook, take the fish out of the fridge and let it come to room temperature. Oil the grill grates generously with oil poured on to a paper towel, or use a non-stick spray made for the grill. Turn grill on to high and preheat while the fish comes to room temperature.

Turn the grill to medium-high when you are ready to put the fish on (or for a charcoal grill, you can only hold your hand there for a few seconds when it's hot enough to cook fish.) To get grill marks, lay the fish diagonally across grill grates; after first grill marks appear (about 3 minutes) rotate fish so it's laying diagonally the other way. After about 6 minutes carefully turn fish over to cook the other side.

Total cooking time for grilled fish is about 10 minutes per inch of thickness, but the best way to test is by lightly pressing on the fish with your finger; it should feel firm but not hard to the touch when it's done.

This marinade would also be good on shrimp, scallops, or chicken. Chicken could be marinated quite a bit longer; I would marinate shrimp or scallops for only about 2 hours.



The Result:
This was a really light and flavorful meal. The marinade was delicious, however mine got a little watered down since my fish wasn't thawed all the way in the middle. Also, I don't think my grill was nearly hot enough. Oops! Sometimes, the grill can be a fickle beast. Even with those little snafus, this recipe was great and SBD phase 1 friendly.