Pan-Roasted Halibut with Pesto Butter

Wednesday night with Zeb and Melissa here, I decided to do a fish dish. I started with a compound butter consisting of unsalted butter, fresh basil, Parmesan cheese, pine nuts, garlic and salt and pepper all processed until smooth in a food processor. The butter was rolled in plastic wrap and refrigerated until serving time.

Meanwhile a six ounce halibut fillet was brushed with melted butter and seasoned with salt and pepper. The seasoned fillets were then coated with Panko bread crumbs. The fish was sauteed over medium high heat, bread crumb side down for 3 minutes. The fillets were flipped and and grape tomatoes were added to the skillet before transferring the pan to the oven to roast for 10 minutes.

The fillets got a slice of the Pesto butter for serving along with a side of Risotto Alfredo and some of the roasted tomatoes.

The risotto started with onions and rice sauteed in butter for 2 minutes. White wine was stirred in and cooked until absorbed. Some hot chicken broth was added in small increments and allowed to be absorbed. Once done, the risotto was removed from the heat and finished with Parmesan, a little heavy cream and salt and pepper to taste.

The fish fillets were absolutely wonderful and perfectly cooked! The risotto was delicious as well.