Easy and Healthy Halibut Piccata
Piccata sauce is simple to make. It contains lemon juice, butter, and capers and is traditionally served over meat or chicken. Use any kind of firm, mild fish and you'll have a delicious dinner on the table in no time at all. It's also delicious over chicken or thinly pounded pork!
Servings 4
Ingredients
- 4 8 oz halibut fillets or any firm, white fish
- 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup shallots chopped; or onion
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice about 1 large lemon
- 1 lemon thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup white wine or substitute chicken broth
- 1 Tbsp capers drained; optional
- 1 Tbsp salted butter
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- freshly chopped parsley Optional garnish
Instructions
- Pat fish fillets dry with paper towel and season with salt and pepper. Preheat oven to 450F
- In an extra large skillet, heat 2 Tablespoons olive oil over medium high heat until oil is hot. Add fish to skillet (cook in batches if needed, to avoid overcrowding.) Cook, skin side up, for 2-3 minutes, then flip over (I use a fish spatula). Place into the preheated oven and roast for about 15 minutes, until done. (130F-135F). Carefully remove the skillet from the oven, covering the handle so you don't accidentally grab it and burn your hand (from personal experience). Remove the fish, loosely cover and keep warm.
Make the sauce:
- Without cleaning the skillet out, add 1 Tablespoon olive oil to same skillet over medium high heat. When oil is hot, add the shallots and garlic, stirring 1-2 min until fragrant. Add lemon juice and lemon slices, scraping pan if needed to loosen any browned bits. Cook until lemon slices are nicely browned. Add the wine (and/or chicken broth) and capers. Off heat, add the butter and whisk until dissolved into the sauce.NOTE: Since the fish wasn't coated with flour,the sauce will be thin. I added about 1 Tbsp. of Wondra flour and whisked together until the sauce reached the consistency that I liked. Pour lemon mixture over fish and serve. Garnish with freshly chopped parsley, if desired.
Notes
Why did I use both wine and chicken broth? I wanted a bit of the acidity that wine gives this sauce, but I wanted to reduce the calories. The sauce wasn't as thick, since the fish wasn't coated and cooked with flour. I used Wondra flour (to reduce lumps) to thicken the sauce just a wee bit.