Garlic Lemon Pasta with Halibut Cheeks

Let me see your cheeks.

Went to the fish market for some shrimp and came home with halibut cheeks. Our local fish guy told me he had gotten fresh halibut in that day and my plans for shrimp quickly changed to halibut. Halibut cheeks are incredibly tender and have a buttery sweetness that is similar to scallops, paired with a garlicky lemon spaghetti and a fine wine, you can call that a good night!

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lbs of halibut cheeks

• 4 oz of yellow cherry tomatoes

• 1 shallot

• 4 cloves garlic

• 2-3 lemons

• handful of basil

• good olive oil

• aleppo pepper (can sub red chili flake)

• kosher salt

• maldon salt (yes, two types of salt)

• Parmesan (if you’d like)

• good spaghetti pasta

• 1 C white wine (pinot gris or sauvignon blanc)

Kitchen Equipment

• Large Skillet (stainless steel, cast iron, carbon steel)

• Cutting board

• Chef knife

• Fish spatula

• Paper towels

Prep and Assembly

1. Remove halibut cheeks from the package and lightly dry them with a paper towel.

2. Finely chop shallots and garlic, set aside. Julienne basil.

3. Cook pasta according to cooking instructions, make sure pasta is cooked to aldente. Save 1 C of pasta water for later. Drain and set pasta aside. Do not rinse pasta!

4. Heat skillet over medium-high heat. Lightly season halibut cheeks with kosher salt, and a crack of pepper. Add avocado oil to the pan, if the olive begins to smoke, turn down the heat to medium and add cheeks to the pan. Lightly sear each side of the halibut cheeks, for about 3-4 minutes on each side. Remove from pan and set aside.

5. In a skillet, add olive oil, garlic, and shallots, heat over medium heat. Allow garlic and shallot to heat up with oil. Once garlic and shallots begin to dance in the pan, add cherry tomatoes and a pinch of kosher salt. Occasionally stirring tomatoes until they burst and begin to form a simmering sauce.

6. Once tomatoes have cooked down, add wine and cook for 2-3 minutes for the alcohol to burn off. Add 1/2 C pasta water and stir until sauce has thickened. Add pasta and toss pasta with sauce. Squeeze lemon over pasta, add a pinch of Aleppo pepper, and grate with fresh parmesan cheese.

7. Serve tossed pasta with halibut cheeks, extra parmesan, basil, a squeeze of lemon, a drizzle of good olive oil (here’s my fave!), and a pinch of Maldon salt. (of course, this step ly extra—enjoy however you’d like and with whatever you have, the point is that you enjoy your creation!)