Name: Steamed Pacific Halibut With Lemon Butter Sauce
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 2 servings
Ingredients: 2 (6 oz.) portions Pacific halibut, frozen; 1 small shallot, finely minced; 1 cup dry white wine, plus a splash more; ¼ cup white wine vinegar; 1 cup butter, cubed and brought to room temperature; 2 tablespoons parsley, chopped; 2 tablespoons preserved lemon, finely minced, or 1 tablespoon lemon zest; Juice from 1 lemon; Salt and freshly ground black pepper; 2 sprigs of thyme; 1 bay leaf; 2 strips of lemon peel; 1 teaspoon black peppercorns; 8 oz. green beans or yellow wax beans, fresh or frozen; Lemon wedges for garnish

Lemon Butter Sauce for Fish Cooked from Frozen

This recipe for steamed Pacific halibut with lemon butter sauce is a simple but elegant meal that you can cook from frozen. Mild Pacific halibut and green beans are steamed straight out of the freezer, then enhanced with a luscious lemon butter sauce that you’ll make from scratch.

Steaming provides gentle, moist heat so that the frozen Pacific halibut retains more moisture as it defrosts and cooks through. It’s recommended to choose a fillet of fish that has a thinner profile (less than 1-inch thick) when cooking from frozen, as this will help it cook through more evenly.

Ingredients and Substitutions:

White wine: Use a dry white wine that is good enough to enjoy on its own, as its flavor will concentrate in the lemon butter sauce.
Preserved lemon: Preserved lemon is an ingredient commonly used in Moroccan cuisine, as well as some Southeast Asian cuisines. It’s essentially lemon rind that has been preserved in a salt brine, giving the lemon a mellower, less acidic flavor profile. Lemon zest can be used in place of preserved lemon to give the lemon butter sauce a similar flavor profile.
Green beans or yellow wax beans: Either fresh or frozen beans can be used in this recipe. If using frozen beans, simply steam until warmed through, then allow to drain as directed in the recipe.
Butter: The lemon butter sauce requires a substantial amount of butter to transform it into a creamy, restaurant-style emulsion. If you prefer to use less butter, you can simply halve the volume of sauce, making sure to keep the sauce ingredient ratios the same.
Steaming liquid: To streamline this recipe, you can opt to steam the fish and green beans over water or veggie stock, rather than adding in ingredients like wine, thyme, bay leaf, and lemon peel. These ingredients add aromatic flavor and nuance to the meal, but they are not essential to the recipe.

About Chef George Pramatarov:

George Pramatarov is a chef based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Over the past decade, he has worked at several award-winning restaurants including St. Genevieve, Hai Hai, Grand Cafe, and Petite Leon — recently included in New York Times's 50 Favorite Restaurants of 2022. Born and raised in Bulgaria, George moved to the United States at age 14 and is equally influenced by Bulgarian, French, and American cuisine. Through cooking food and creating recipes, he is continually revisiting the feeling of home. When not cooking, George unwinds with his partner, Sara, and their crazy Beagle at the family lakeside cabin in Wisconsin.

Print Recipe

Steamed Pacific Halibut With Lemon Butter Sauce

By Wild Alaskan Company

Prep time

20 minutes

Cook Time

35 minutes

Total time

55 minutes

Yield

2 servings

Ingredients

2 (6 oz.) portions Pacific halibut, frozen
1 small shallot, finely minced
1 cup dry white wine, plus a splash more
¼ cup white wine vinegar
1 cup butter, cubed and brought to room temperature
2 tablespoons parsley, chopped
2 tablespoons preserved lemon, finely minced, or 1 tablespoon lemon zest
Juice from 1 lemon
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 sprigs of thyme
1 bay leaf
2 strips of lemon peel
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
8 oz. green beans or yellow wax beans, fresh or frozen
Lemon wedges for garnish

Instructions

1. In a cold saucepan, combine the shallots, wine, and vinegar. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. Cook until liquid is reduced by ⅔, about 15 minutes.

2. While the reduced liquid is at a rolling boil, start adding cubes of room temperature butter, one by one, whisking continually to create an emulsion. Turn off heat and add parsley and preserved lemon. Whisk in lemon juice, then season to taste with salt and pepper. Reserve and keep warm until ready to serve.

3. In a large saucepan fitted with a steamer basket, bring two inches of water to a boil. Add a splash of wine, thyme, bay leaf, lemon peels, and whole peppercorns to the water.

4. Rinse frozen fillets under cold water to remove ice glaze, then pat dry with a tea towel. Brush fish with oil and season with salt. Arrange green beans and fish in steamer basket. Cover and cook until beans are crisp-tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer beans to colander and set aside.

5. Flip fish in steamer and continue to cook for another 10 minutes.

6. Check the temperature of the fish with an instant-read thermometer. Fish is medium-done when internal temperature reaches 130F at its thickest part. It may need an additional 4 to 5 minutes of cook time depending on the thickness of the fish.

7. Take fish off heat and let it rest for 3 to 4 minutes. Add beans to sauce to warm them through. Spoon the beans with the sauce into bowls. Add the fish on top of the beans, and spoon the remaining sauce over the fish. Serve hot.

Consuming raw or undercooked meats, poultry, seafood, shellfish, or eggs may increase your risk of food-borne illness, especially if you have a certain medical condition. The FDA recommends an internal temperature of 145°F for cooked fish.

Steamed Pacific Halibut With Lemon Butter Sauce

Lemon Butter Sauce for Fish Cooked from Frozen

Ingredients and Substitutions:

Steamed Pacific Halibut With Lemon Butter Sauce

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