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A seasoned and seared fish fillet topped with capers and a buttery sauce is served on a ceramic plate. The sauce pools around the fish, garnished with herbs.

Pistachio Encrusted Halibut

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A vibrant, crisp-crusted halibut dish that uses Tajín-seasoned pistachios for a zesty, nutty coating and finishes with a buttery caper-lemon pan sauce. Plain pistachios work, and so do almonds, cashews and pepitas, so do not let one bag of nuts stand between you and the dish. It's elegant enough for guests, but simple enough for weeknight dinner.
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings: 2
Course: Dinner, Main Course, Seafood
Cuisine: American
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 2 Halibut filets 6–8 oz each
  • 1 Bag Tajín-seasoned pistachios Plain pistachios, almonds, cashews or pepitas
  • 1 Lemon Zested and juiced
  • ¼ cup Buttermilk
  • 1 tablespoon Butter
  • 2 tablespoon Butter
  • 2 tablespoon Parsley Finely chopped
  • 1 tablespoon Capers Drained and patted dry
  • Kosher salt To taste

Equipment

  • Nonstick skillet
  • Tongs
  • Microplane
  • Spatula or fish turner
  • Shallow bowls or plates
  • Blender or food processor

Method
 

  1. Add pistachios (reserve a few for garnish) and a pinch of salt to a blender. Pulse until finely chopped, but not powdery. Transfer to a plate.
  2. Pour the buttermilk into a shallow bowl. Season lightly with salt.
  3. Pat halibut dry and season with kosher salt. Dip each filet in the buttermilk, allowing excess to drip off, then press both sides into the chopped pistachios, firmly coating.
  4. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon butter. Once foaming, gently lay in the halibut. Cook about 3 minutes per side, until golden and the internal temp reaches 125 to 130°F. Halibut is lean, so pull it here and let carryover finish it. Transfer to a warm plate.
  5. Wipe out the pan. Add remaining 2 tablespoon butter. Once it begins to brown, turn off heat and stir in capers, chopped parsley, and a squeeze of lemon juice.
  6. Spoon sauce over the halibut, finish with lemon zest and reserved pistachios, and serve immediately.

Notes

Nuts: plain pistachios work, and so do almonds, cashews, pepitas, sunflower seeds and peanuts. Pistachio happens to be low enough in oil to break into crumbs instead of smearing, and high enough in sugar to brown in the few minutes the fish gives you. Almonds, cashews, pepitas, sunflower seeds and peanuts do the same two jobs. Hazelnuts, pecans and walnuts are oilier, so freeze them fifteen minutes and pulse in short bursts or they go to paste, and rub the skins off walnuts, because the bitterness sits in that papery skin and not in the nut. Skip macadamias, pine nuts and sesame. Macadamias have almost nothing to brown with and stay pale and greasy, and the other two are small enough to burn before the fish is done.
Coarse crumbs matter more than which nut you picked. Powder burns whatever nut it came from, so pulse, do not run the blender.
Let the buttermilk drip off properly. It should leave a sheen, not a coating. The milk sugar browns before the nuts do, so a thick wet layer goes dark at the edges while the crust underneath is still raw.
Storage: The crust is the whole point here, so eat this one fresh off the pan. Leftovers keep covered in the fridge for a day, but reheat in a low oven rather than the microwave, which will make the pistachio crust go soggy and overcook the fish.

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