In honor of me being back at home, back to focusing on cooking and writing, we’ll kick it back off with a little two-fer — everyone’s favorite! On one of my first trips to Jamaica I brought home Grace’s Jerk Seasoning to try to bring a little bit of Scotchie’s back to NYC. This stuff is SERIOUSLY hot so I like to balance it with a bit of coconut milk and serve whatever marinated protein (in this case, halibut) with a heaping helping of a fruit-forward salsa. Let’s do it!
SHOPPING LIST: 2 lbs. halibut, Grace’s Jerk Seasoning, 1 can coconut milk, 1 peach, 1 tomato, 1 jalapeño, 1 lime, adobo seasoning, salt, black pepper
The first thing you are going to do is marinate your fish. Slice your halibut into individual servings, about 2×2 inches, and season both sides of the fish with your classic adobo. In a bowl, combine 4 tB. of Grace’s Jerk Seasoning with 1/2 cup of coconut milk (make sure to shake the can before opening). Pour the seasoning over your fish and mix well in a bowl, or you can add your fish and marinade to a large ziplock and massage it gently. Allow the fish to marinate 30 minutes or so.
In the meantime, let’s get to that salsa. Chop up one large peach and one large tomato into even cubes. If you can find a YELLOW tomato I actually love that for this salsa for the uniformity in color. Combine the chopped peach and tomato in a SMALL STRAINER and then dice 1/2 a fresh jalapeño VERY finely. (This is one of those recipes that could totally have 1/4 of a diced red onion as well but the prince doesn’t love onion I didn’t include it this time). Add your jalapeño to the salsa and season with salt and pepper. Mix well and then allow the strainer to sit over the sink for 10 minutes because the salt will draw liquid from your fruit and vegetables and you want to get rid of this excess liquid. After the ten minutes, put your simple salsa in a serving bowl and finish the zest and juice of one lime. Mix the lime in and you’re good to go.
Now get your BBQ nice and hot and you’re going to grill your fish until its fork tender and almost falling apart. That’s what I love about halibut – you can easily tell when it’s perfectly don’t when the ends beautifully flake off. The fish is going to take about 4 minutes on each side. The key for me is to keep lathering the fish in the excess marinade while it’s cooking. The more the merrier. Serve up your freshly grilled halibut with your beautiful peach salsa and let the combination of sweet and spicy flavor your evening.
The Kitchen Koach 