Baked Halibut with Pine Nut, Parmesan and Arugula Pesto Crust

Today we definitely made a great food discovery in downtown Provo, a restaurant called Black Sheep Cafe which focuses on southwestern native-american cuisine. I ordered the "goat" burger {a beef burger stuffed with goat cheese and roasted garlic, topped with portobello mushrooms, roasted red peppers, spring mix and adobo mayo all wrapped in nanniskadii bread - very similar to naan!} and the Orange Habenero Crème Brulee. I was in absolute heaven when eating my burger, I'm going to eat there again for sure.

For dinner, I decided to make this baked halibut. It's quite flavorful because of the arugula pesto and parmesan cheese.

Baked Halibut with Pine Nut, Parmesan and Arugula Pesto Crust
Adapted from Kalyn's Kitchen

6 halibut fillets, deboned and skinned
3/4 cups pine nuts
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons parmesan
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon arugula pesto
4 1/2 tablespoons mayonnaise
lemon
1/4 cup panko

1 tablespoon butter

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 
• Spray a baking pan with non stick spray or olive oil. Remove the fish fillets from the refrigerator and let them come to room temperature while the oven heats.
• Finely chop the pine nuts and mince the garlic. Mix together chopped pine nuts, parmesan cheese, garlic, pesto and mayonnaise.
• On each fillet, squeeze a little lemon on top and spread the crust mixture evenly over the surface of each fish fillet. Pile it on so all the crust mixture is used. Sprinkle the tops of each crust with buttered panko.
• Bake the halibut for 10-15 minutes, or until the fish is firm to the touch and crust mixture is starting to lightly brown. If the fish is thoroughly cooked, but the crust is not completely browned, turn on the broiler and brown the tops. 

I served this with lemon-garlic mashed potatoes and sauteed spinach!


Ashley