Citrus and Garlic Marinated Halibut

This is my first fish cooking post ever! This might seem a bit odd since I love to fish and spend countless hours on the boat doing so in the summer. There is a reason it’s taken me so long to write a post about fish… several actually.

1. I never really liked fish until I met Mountain Man: My parents would insist upon having it once a week when I was a kid and I hated that night always!! The dinner table would become a negotiation/tantrum ground: how many bites would it take to allow me to leave the table? The settlement was usually 10. Since I liked ketchup on everything when I was little, my Mom thought maybe this would help…. it didn’t but that’s how I forced it down once a week. Cod and ketchup…. I’m so embarrassed for myself and my parents. Sorry, Mom and Dad.

As you can imagine, when Mountain Man first met me, he was thrilled to discover I loved fishing, and crest-fallen to learn I couldn’t stand eating it. Of course, he made this his mission to convert me. I remember our first time going to Riffe Lake and catching little land-locked silvers. He insisted we cook them up for dinner immediately when we got home. I wanted a cheese burger. I tried to find any excuse to avoid the inevitable disappointing dinner that was in store for me; It was too late for dinner, I’m feeling motion sick from the drive home, etc etc I was reaching! He cooked it up, set it in front of me and I took the tiniest bite I could put on my fork…. then I had another, and another. My eyebrows popped up and I smiled, this wasn’t half bad! My parents were in utter shock that he didn’t have to negotiate how many bites I had to eat before I could stop.

2. MM mans the grill and cooks the fish! This wasn’t his rule, it was mine, up until this year. My dad has always been the grill master growing up and I had no idea how to cook using the BBQ. I’d tried a few times in college and failed miserably. So I gave up and let the expectation be that grilling is mans work. Typically MM doesn’t get home from work until 7 pm, that has been the norm for the past year. With hours like that, the options were, wait until 8 pm to eat or not grill. I get hangry (hungry/angry) around 6:30 so the latter was the way of it for a time. Until MM pointed out that we had a freezer full of salmon and halibut that wasn’t being put to use (I know, sacrilege to you fish lovers). I could care less….I said I liked it, not loved it. Still he insisted I learn to use the grill and assisted with preparing and cooking our catch. Surprisingly, these are some of the easiest dinners to make! I knew the option was super healthy but had no idea how stupid easy it is to grill up a slab o’ salmon! For the most part we used MM created dry rub  that is to die for (recipe coming this summer). I got to loving the convenience and low calories so much, I freaked out when we ran out! Yes, yes I like the taste too now.

So now I grill and cook fish…. and like it. With comfort comes curiosity and this was my first experiment.

Great on chicken too!!

The first time I used this marinade on chicken and it was epic!! I would highly recommend trying it on chicken too! Just toss chicken breasts in a bag with marinade for a few hours and grill.

MM suggested we try it on halibut and WOW! This was the best halibut I’ve ever had. Even better than deep fried fish and chips!! As always, it was easy to put together and grill. This will be in the regular rotation this summer for sure!

Ingredients:

•  1 lb halibut fillet or 3 chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1 tsp grated orange peel
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/2 bunch fresh cilantro
• 1/2 bunch fresh oregano
• 1/4 medium yellow onion
• 4 cloves garlic

Time: 3 hours to marinade, 20-30 mins to cook

Servings: 3

Instructions

Add olive oil, lemon juice, orange juice, orange peel, salt and pepper into a large plastic zip bag.

In the food processor, chop cilantro, oregano, onion, and garlic.

Add mixture to the zip bag and mix.

Add halibut or chicken to bag, seal, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Preheat BBQ to 350.

Make a foil boat and place halibut and marinade inside. If you’re using chicken, you don’t need to do this, just put it straight on the grill.

Place over the grill and turn down burners to medium low.

Allow to cook for 20 minutes occasionally basting with marinade.

Remove halibut from foil boat, grease the grill, and set the fish directly on the grill for the next 5-10 minutes.

Enjoy!