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Pistachio Nut Crusted Halibut with Roasted Red Pepper Salsa

I love this dish! Colorful, spicy and so good for you! The salsa is loaded with fiber, antioxidants and good fats and the fish is high in protein. Fresh halibut is in season form April to October. In the off season I use frozen individually sized portions .Whole 30 and paleo options offered.
Course Main Course
Cuisine American
Keyword Paleo recipes, summer recipe, Whole30 recipe
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Servings 4 servings
Author Linda Spiker

Ingredients

For Salsa:

  • 1 large roasted red pepper diced (see instructions)
  • 1 large ripe avocado diced
  • 1 large tomato diced
  • ¼ of a red onion finely diced
  • Serrano chili finely minced, ½ tsp mild, ¾ tsp medium, 1 tsp hot
  • 2 tsp cilantro chopped
  • juice of half a lime
  • sea salt to taste

For Fish:

  • 4-5 6 oz Halibut filets fresh or frozen and thawed
  • ½ cup panko bread crumbs or almond flour for my Paleo/Whole 30 friends
  • ½ cup roasted salted pistachio nuts
  • sea salt
  • freshly ground pepper
  • 1 egg
  • 1 T water
  • olive or coconut oil
  • Rice or cauliflower rice if desired

Instructions

  • If using rice, start cooking it now. If using cauliflower rice, cook at the end.
  • If roasting your own red bell pepper: wash and dry red pepper. Turn cook top burner on med heat and place red pepper right on the burner. Allow pepper to sit on burner till skin turns black, use tongs to rotate the pepper. Keep cooking the pepper till all sides are blackened, turning as each side is charred. Remove pepper, place in bowl and cover with lid or plastic wrap. Let sit for ten minutes while you prepare your other ingredients.
  • Dice tomato, avocado and onion. Mince Serrano chili, be sure to wash your hands well after and avoid rubbing your eyes for several hours. Chop cilantro. Place all prepared ingredients except chili in a bowl, stir and set aside. Remove red pepper from bowl and peel the blackened skin off pepper. This can be a little messy. Once blackened skin is removed, dice pepper and add to bowl with other vegetables, stir. Add Serrano chili. Sprinkle with sea salt and squeeze with lime, stir. Set aside.

Halibut Prep: Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place oven rack in center position

  • Whisk egg and water in a shallow dish and set aside.
  • Place bread crumbs (or almond flour) and pistachio nuts in food processor and give it a whirl. It’s ok to have some larger pieces of nuts and some smaller. Place nut/crumb mixture on a plate and set aside.
  • Pat fish dry with a paper towel, lightly sprinkle with sea salt and pepper, dip in egg mixture and then dredge in nut/bread mixture. Make sure fish is completely covered with nut misture, set on a plate.
  • Place an oven safe pan on medium/high heat for 3 minutes. Add enough olive or coconut oil to hot pan so that when it melts it coats the entire bottom of pan. Gently place fish in pan and lower heat to medium. When golden brown (about 3 minutes) gently turn fish to second side. Cook second side till golden brown then place pan in preheated oven and bake for 5-6 minutes. Cooking time will depend on how thick fish filet is.
  • If making cauliflower rice: while fish is in the oven, heat pan on medium heat. Add olive oil. When olive oil is hot, add desired amount of cauliflower rice to pan and cook 5-6 minutes stirring frequently. Season with salt and pepper.
  • Top rice or cauliflower rice with fish  Roasted Red Pepper Salsa. Enjoy!