Braised Pacific Halibut with Leeks, Mushrooms, and Clams

By susanwadle

Ingredients

• 4 oz. (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
• 1/2 lb. oyster or hen of the woods mushrooms, thinly sliced (about 4 cups)
• 3 large leeks, white and light-green parts only, thinly sliced (about 4 cups)
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3 cups lower-salt chicken broth
• 4 skinless Pacific halibut fillets (about 4 oz. each)
• 16 to 24 small clams, such as Manila or littlenecks, scrubbed
• 1 Tbs. finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Details

Servings 4
Adapted from finecooking.com

Preparation

Step 1

Melt the butter over medium heat in an 11- or 12-inch straight-sided sauté pan with a lid. Add the mushrooms and leeks and season lightly with salt and pepper. Cook gently, stirring occasionally, until softened but not browned, 7 to 8 minutes. Add the broth, raise the heat to medium high, and bring to a boil.

Season the halibut with salt and pepper. Nestle the fish and clams among the vegetables in the skillet. Bring the broth back to a boil, cover tightly, and reduce the heat to low. Cook gently until the fish is just cooked through and the clams have opened, about 7 minutes. If all of the clams are not open, remove the fish and the open clams and continue cooking until the remaining clams open, another 2 to 3 minutes. Discard any clams that haven’t opened by this time.

To make it a complete meal, serve with a green side salad and

There are many recipes I will try once, some, a few times and others like this one become part of my cooking repetoire. I add a little garlic and white wine as other readers suggested. Substitutions are possible, mussels for the clams, spinach and even broccoli raab for the kale. The broth is great and the dish warrants some crusty bread and a Sauvignon Blanc.

The times when I can find both fresh Pacific halibut AND littleneck clams in one market are rare, so when I found the clams, I substituted scallops for the halibut. I did a quick sear of the scallops and added them to the cooked clam mixture about 2 minutes before serving. I substituted olive oil for 1/2 of the butter. Served with green salad and a large slice of grilled Italian garlic bread for dunking in the broth. All very good. My husband and I both thought that the broth could benefit from some wine--possibly reduced at the end of the saute--and a bit of herb seasoning, possibly even a pinch of saffron. I would not add any salt, especially if using packaged broth. We will definitely do this again.

We didn't add the clams, but included everything else. Excellent, will definitely make it again, especially while halibut is fresh and in season.

Amazing meal! Great comfort food. I have made it several times, using different seafoods and sometimes adding in lemongrass. Very easy, doesn't take much effort and maximum impact of flavors!

I created this dish with littleneck clams only and a mixture of mushrooms because they were what I had in the pantry. I served it over linguine and it was delish. I cut the butter in half and that was plenty to give the broth a sublime richness. Plus, did not feel as guilty slurping it up!

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