Halibut with White Beans and Radicchio

Figuring we had eaten enough red meat for one week, I flipped through a few cookbooks today in hopes of finding a new seafood recipe that I thought everyone would like.

I ended up at Giada de Laurentiis' Sea Bass with Beans and Radicchio, on page 80 of Giada's Family Dinners. After a side trip to Home Depot to pick up a few items for a furniture refinishing project we are in the middle of, I stopped by Whole Foods to see what they had in the way of a nice white fish that would work well with this recipe. It came down to a choice between Chilean sea bass and halibut, and the halibut won.

It was an easy recipe to make, as many of Giada's are, but was absolutely fantastic. Even Grace loved it, and she's the one who claims she doesn't like fish. Tonight she did.

The recipe was simple, and in three easy parts. The halibut was served on a bed of white beans, shallots and wilted radicchio. The fish was dredged in flour, pan seared and then finished in the oven. The shallots were softened, to which the radicchio was added to wilt, after which the white beans were added along with some fish stock and salt and pepper. This was all simmered together while the fish cooked. After the dish was assembled, the fish was topped with a liberal spooning of a lemon vinaigrette. This was a simple blend of lemon juice, lemon zest, flat leaf parsley, garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil.

Giada's recipes continue to get very high marks from me. They are simple and straightforward to cook, but yield very good results without a whole lot of hassle. Perfect. You could do this dish on a weekday with no trouble. It gets very high marks for taste, ease of prep and minimal kitchen mess. The only downside is that halibut and sea bass are both pricey. To make this dish more economical, you could just as easily make it with snapper or tilapia or another less expensive white fish.

The entire meal took about a half hour to make. Highly recommended.