Difficulty: Easy, Moderate, Complex
Yield: 2 servings
Ingredients
- For the Tomato Vinaigrette
- 4 medium ripe red tomatoes (any variety)
- 1 big sprig tarragon. leaves pulled off
- 2 shallots, peeled and sliced in rings
- 1/2 cup Olive oil (125 ml)
- A pinch of coarse salt
- A grinding of cracked black pepper
- 2 handfuls of hickory wood chips
- 1/2 cup water (125 ml)
- For the Roasted Halibut
- 2 X 4 ounce filets of halibut (.5 kg)
- 1 tablespoon canola oil (15 ml)
- A pinch of coarse salt
- A grinding of cracked black pepper
- A handful of baby greens
- 1 shallot, finely julienned
Method
- For the Tomato Vinaigrette:
- Prepare your wok smoker: Lay two layers of tin foil in bottom of wok. Add a good handful of wood chips on top and turn onto high. Add a half a cup of water.
- Wash, cut into quarters and de-seed tomatoes. Pop into your bamboo rack.
- Add tarragon, and shallots. Place on your smoking wok. Put on a lid and let it smoke for 20 minutes.
- Place tomatoes into a big pitcher and blend with a wand. Add a drizzle of olive oil as you are blending to get a nice consistency – about ½ cup. Season with a pinch of coarse salt and some cracked black pepper.
- For the Roasted Halibut :
- Liberally sprinkle your halibut filets with coarse salt and fresh ground black pepper.
- In a pan on the fairly high heat, add just enough oil to coat bottom of pan
- Add your halibut filets, skin side down. Once the first side is browned nicely (3 – 4min) flip it over and let it go for another 3 minutes. Then place the pan in the oven at 375 degrees for about 5 minutes to finish cooking. The halibut needs to be firm to the touch and becomes a snowy white when cooked through but since it’s a lean fish, it will get dry if overcooked.
- Ladle a pool of Smoked Tomato Vinaigrette in the bottom of a deep plate, top with a piece of halibut and add a few baby greens on top. You can use arugula mixed with sliced shallots or many kinds of young sprouts would also work great.