Enjoy the last of summer by breaking out the grill and making this light and delicious dinner of halibut steaks with a roasted red pepper tapenade.
It seemed like it was the longest winter-to-spring-to-summer transition ever. Like ever, ever! As soon as I thought the weather was warming and I could put away my winter coat, I’d wake up the next morning with frost on my car! Now, I do live in Wisconsin so I understand what I’m in for. And it’s not like it’s something new. I grew up in Chicago, and while yes, the weather is a little cooler here in WI, it’s not THAT much different. But STILL! I felt in a constant state of cold and longing for warmer temperatures.
A blog commenter who had lived in the state of California her whole life said she couldn’t even image what shoes someone would need in a snowy winter. “Unattractive ones” I told her. Ha! But even through the cold, I knew that there were brighter days ahead.
Then summer came, but seemingly all to quickly the summer has come and is going. Just today it was 64 degrees…noooooo….too cold for summer.
This dish, THESE super light and airy halibut steaks with roasted pepper tapenade reminds me of warm summer days that I never want to leave. The delicate, flaky texture of halibut steaks and bright colored peppers are perfect for summer.
But don’t be fooled by the beautiful fish, it is a little bit tricky to cook, so fair warning. You either want to grill it, or you want to use a grill pan. And if using a grill pan (like I did) be sure you have oiled the fish enough before you grill it. And also be sure that you don’t forget to turn off the heat so the halibut doesn’t overcook.
I guess I was so excited that I was making ‘grilled’ fish indoors that I made two halibut steaks and then moved them to the back of the grill pan to rest as I was prepping the tapenade. Well, that would have all been fine and good, except I left the back burner on and it caused the halibut to keep cooking and kind of fall apart. But all is well, because even overcooked this fish was delicious, it’s just a little note of caution!
The red pepper tapenade is made by roasting mini sweet peppers (or you could use a whole bell pepper) and is the processed with a food processor and is seasoned with lemon juice.
The sweet roasted peppers and lemon come together easily and top the grilled fish for a perfect complimenting of flavors. I like to serve the halibut with a side of couscous and either kale or spinach. Super simple sides let the star of the dish, the halibut and red pepper tapenade shine!
Ingredients
- 4-5 oz Halibut steaks
- 1 tsp steak seasoning
- 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- 13 mini sweet peppers – or 2 bell peppers sliced
- ½ onion sliced
- 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- ½ tsp garlic salt
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp pepper
- ½ lemon juiced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400. Line a pan with aluminum foil.
- In a bowl place sliced peppers and onion, and toss with olive oil, garlic salt, salt, and pepper. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove from oven and put contents into a food processor and squeeze lemon juice in, and process until chunky. Spoon into a bowl and serve on top of halibut steaks.
- Pat halibut steaks with olive oil, and sprinkle both sides with steak seasoning.
- Heat a grill pan on high, and then cook halibut steaks for 4 minutes on each side.
- Serve halibut steak with a tablespoon of tapenade on top. I also like to serve this with couscous and spinach or greens on the side.
Omaha Steaks has compensated me for my time to develop this recipe. As always, thank you for reading and for supporting the brands that make the SweetPhi blog. All thoughts and opinions are as always mine alone. Happy cooking!
The Gourmet Gourmand says
Wow this recipe is totally up my alley. I love it! So fresh and creative 🙂
Sweetphi says
Thank you so much, this recipe reminds me of summer flavors so I’m all about it and trying to ward off the winter 🙂
Shawnna says
yummy!! This looks really good!
Sweetphi says
Thank you so much girl! The roasted pepper tapenade goes really well all sorts of meat – I’ve made it with fish and chicken before!
Little Cooking Tips says
We LOVE grilling fish out in the BBQ so we’re pretty excited about your recipe!:) Excellent work (as always) Phi!
Unfortunately flatfish is only sold in sole fillets here, we don’t have those beautiful steaks. But we do have cod and swordfish steaks, so we’ll have to use those:) Swordfish steaks especially are among Panos’ favorites fish cuts.
As for the weather…64F ?!!! Darn! We still have 86F here, but of course, we’re in the Mediterranean. And like any people who are missing the snow (very rare here), we are a bit jealous of the beautiful winter season you guys have there, with the white velvety blanket covering everything, making the place magical! Sometimes we drive to a high mountain in Evia island (Dirfis 5700 feet high check it out here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirfi), about 2 hrs from Athens, to see a bit of snow, in January:) That’s how desperate we are!:)
Our best wishes for a delicious, happy, joyful Winter season guys!
xoxoxoxo
Sweetphi says
This roasted pepper tapenade would be great with swordfish steaks…now those (swordfish steaks) I am super curious to try, I don’t think I’ve seen those, so I will definitely be on the lookout! I’m hoping winter holds off for a little longer, just today we are again supposed to get into the high 80s, and then next week into the low 60s lol, the weather is just all over the place right now! I hope you both have a wonderful rest of summer, and thank you for the comment- I always learn so much from you 🙂
Jennifer @ Show Me the Yummy says
Oh my gosh. That tapenade <3
Sweetphi says
Thank you so much, that tapenade is so delish – it’s perfect for fish or chicken!
Carmela Pop says
Love your blog layout!! and your logo, and your recipes and well pretty much everything #fangirl Keep up rocking it!!
Ana
Sweetphi says
Thank you so much for your kind words about my site Ana, really appreciate it 🙂
Dannii @ Hungry Healthy Happy says
I am not looking forward to breaking out the winter shoes. Bye bye flip flops.
Loving the roasted pepper tapenade in this. It could go on so many thing.
Sweetphi says
I am not looking forward to those winter shoes either – I totally laughed when the blog reader said she had never bought winter shoes …. oh snow-free climates how I sometimes envy them! And thank you so much – this roasted pepper tapenade is great for fish or poultry, it just is so flavorful and reminds me of summer 🙂
Jess @ whatjessicabakednext says
This looks delicious, Phi! I love grilled fish, it always makes a great dinner. The roasted pepper tapenade sounds great too!
Sweetphi says
Thank you so much Jess! Grilled fish is such a great summer dinner, isn’t it? Now lets find a way to make summer last!