How to Cook Fish Part 24

Soak halibut steaks for an hour in salt and water. Wipe dry and rub with melted b.u.t.ter. b.u.t.ter a china baking-dish, sprinkle chopped onion on the bottom and put in the steaks. On top put a boiled carrot cut into dice, half a dozen sliced tomatoes, a shredded green pepper, and half a cupful of green peas. Add enough salted boiling water to keep the fish from scorching, put a tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter on top, cover, and bake until done. Drain the liquor carefully from the pan, add three tablespoonfuls of white wine, and thicken with a teaspoonful of b.u.t.ter rolled in browned flour.

Serve separately as a sauce.

HALIBUT a LA JARDINIeRE--II

Cover two slices of halibut with a chopped onion, two tomatoes sliced, a shredded and seeded green pepper, a dozen chopped almonds, a tablespoonful of melted b.u.t.ter, and salt to season. Bake for half an hour, pour over the sauce from the pan, and serve.

HALIBUT IN CUc.u.mBERS

Cook the halibut until tender in court bouillon, drain, and flake with a fork. Make a Cream Sauce, seasoning with curry powder. Pare, cut in halves, and parboil in beef stock [Page 182]

as many cuc.u.mbers as are required. Scoop out the inside of each half, fill with the creamed fish, cover with crumbs, dot with b.u.t.ter, and bake in the oven until the cuc.u.mbers are soft. Serve with a garnish of lemon and parsley.

HALIBUT WITH ANCHOVY SAUCE

Four tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter, four tablespoonfuls of flour, one eighth teaspoonful of pepper, one half teaspoonful of salt, two hard-boiled eggs chopped, two cupfuls of cream, two drops of tabasco, one teaspoonful of anchovy essence, one and one half cupfuls of cold cooked halibut, flaked. Mix the ingredients in the order given and cook for ten minutes. Serve with brown bread spread with cheese and chopped olives.

HALIBUT AU GRATIN

Flake cold cooked halibut and mix with an equal quant.i.ty of Cream Sauce. Put into b.u.t.tered individual sh.e.l.ls, sprinkle with crumbs, dot with b.u.t.ter, and brown in the oven.

ESCALLOPED HALIBUT

Prepare the fish according to directions given in the preceding recipe, and add the yolks of two eggs well beaten. Fill a baking-dish, [Page 183]

using alternate layers of fish and grated cheese. Cover with crumbs, dot with b.u.t.ter, and brown in the oven.

HALIBUT STEAK a LA FLAMANDE

b.u.t.ter a baking-pan, sprinkle with chopped onion, and lay a halibut steak upon it. Pour over the beaten yolk of an egg, season with salt and pepper, add the juice of half a lemon, and one tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter cut into small pieces. Bake for thirty minutes. Add to the liquid remaining in the pan enough boiling water to make the required quant.i.ty of sauce, and thicken it with browned flour.

CREAMED HALIBUT

Flake cold cooked halibut and mix with Cream Sauce. Add a tablespoonful of minced parsley, the juice of half a lemon, and three tablespoonfuls of grated Parmesan cheese. Spread on b.u.t.tered toast, sprinkle with minced parsley and serve.

HALIBUT SALAD

Take cold cooked halibut cut small, salt and pepper lightly, and sprinkle with lemon-juice. For the dressing boil three large peeled potatoes until mealy. Drain, let dry, and [Page 184]

beat to a dry powder with a fork. Add one saltspoonful of salt, the same of mustard and pepper, one rounding teaspoonful of powdered sugar, and two tablespoonfuls of vinegar beaten in gradually. Pour over the halibut and decorate with lettuce or green tops.

TURKISH HALIBUT

Place on the bottom of a baking-pan two or three slices of onion, then a cutlet of halibut, and put a tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter cut into small bits over the top of the fish. Cut three skinned tomatoes into quarters, slice a sweet green pepper into ribbons, and put the tomatoes and pepper on the fish. Put the pan on the shelf of the oven to cook first the vegetables, but do not let it remain there long enough to discolor or change their shape; then remove it to the bottom of the oven, baste it well, and finish the cooking.

When done place it carefully on a hot dish, and pour over it the juice from the pan.

HALIBUT PIE

b.u.t.ter a china baking-dish and sprinkle with chopped shallots and parsley. Add a layer of chopped halibut, and salt, pepper, grated nutmeg, chopped shallots, and parsley [Page 185]

to season. Dot with b.u.t.ter and cover with sliced hard-boiled eggs.

Add a cupful of Cream Sauce, and two winegla.s.sfuls of white wine.

Wet the edge, cover with pastry, gash, brush with egg and bake for an hour and a half in a moderate oven. Make a hole in the centre and moisten the pie with milk if it becomes too dry.

STEAMED HALIBUT

Put the prepared fish on a plate, cover with a cloth, and put in a steamer. Steam for two hours and pour over an Egg Sauce.

HALIBUT MOUSSELINES

Mince enough uncooked halibut to make two cupfuls, add one cupful of soft bread-crumbs and one half cupful of cream. Press through a colander, season with salt, pepper, lemon-juice, a suspicion of mace and Worcestershire Sauce. Fold in carefully the beaten whites of four eggs. Turn into b.u.t.tered moulds (round-bottomed ones) and steam one half hour. Turn out on separate plates, surround with sauce, make a stock of the fish bones and water, and add it to two tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter and two of flour cooked together.

There should be one and one half cupfuls of stock. Add one half [Page 186]

cupful of cream, and when boiling add salt, pepper, and one tablespoonful of grated horseradish soaked in lemon-juice.

HALIBUT STEAKS a LA MAiTRE D'HoTEL

Season the steaks with salt and pepper, and rub thoroughly with oil. Broil in a double-broiler, and serve with melted b.u.t.ter, minced parsley, and lemon-juice.

TIMBALE OF HALIBUT

Chop half a pound of raw halibut and press it through a sieve.

Mix a cupful of bread-crumbs to a smooth paste with half a cupful of milk, and cook until it thickens. Take from the fire, add the fish pulp and the stiffly beaten whites of five eggs. Fill b.u.t.tered timbale moulds with the mixture and cook in a pan of hot water in a moderate oven for twenty minutes. Serve with Cream or Tomato Sauce.

FILLETS OF HALIBUT a LA POULETTE

Free the fish of skin and bones and cut it into fillets. Sprinkle with lemon-juice, salt, and pepper. Cover with sliced onion and let stand for half an hour. Remove the onion, dip into melted b.u.t.ter, roll up each piece, and fasten with a wooden toothpick. Dip once [Page 187]

more into the b.u.t.ter, dredge thickly with flour and bake for twenty minutes in a moderate oven. Cut the whites of three hard-boiled eggs into rings, and arrange around the fillets after taking up.

Sprinkle the grated yolks over the fish and serve with Cream Sauce.

COLD HALIBUT FILLET

Prepare half a dozen fillets of halibut, remove the skin and bone, and boil in court bouillon. Drain and sprinkle with olive-oil, lemon-juice, minced parsley, and chopped onion. Serve with Tartar Sauce.

FILLETS OF HALIBUT WITH TOMATO SAUCE

Prepare the fillets according to directions previously given, and bake, basting with tomato-juice and melted b.u.t.ter. Serve with Tomato Sauce.

FILLETS OF HALIBUT STUFFED WITH OYSTERS

Prepare the fillets according to directions given for Fillets of Halibut a la Poulette. Roll each one around an oyster, fasten with a wooden toothpick, and bake as usual.

[Page 188]

FILLETS OF HALIBUT WITH BROWN SAUCE

Put the seasoned fillets into a b.u.t.tered pan with sufficient boiling water, and bake, basting as required. Drain off the water, add to it a teaspoonful of beef extract, and thicken with browned flour.

Pour the sauce over the fish, cover with b.u.t.tered crumbs, and bake until the crumbs are brown.

FILLETS OF HALIBUT WITH POTATO b.a.l.l.s

Cut the solid meat into fillets, seasoning with salt, pepper, onion- and lemon-juice. Brown slightly in pork fat, then place in a baking-dish. Prepare a Cream Sauce, adding to it a slice each of carrot and onion, a bay-leaf, and minced parsley and grated nutmeg to season. Strain over the fish and bake for twelve minutes. Serve with a border of steamed potato b.a.l.l.s.

FRIED FILLETS OF HALIBUT--I