The verdict

[pegkerr]

I baked halibut, with lemon and butter, dill and parmesan cheese.

Fiona: It's edible, but not one of my favorite meals.

Delia: It's okay, I guess, as long as I don't think about what it is I'm eating.

Both of these assessments were made in extremely grudging voices, and each girl managed to choke down two microscopic bites.

The leftovers (and it WAS very good) will be my lunch tomorrow.

Comments

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

I had halibut last night, and do not understand your daughters. =) I am sure it was excellent--it sounds like it!

[aome.livejournal.com]

I'm not a big 'fish' person, either (although I do like shrimp and crab), but that sounds quite tasty! What was the accompaniment?

It's okay, I guess, as long as I don't think about what it is I'm eating.

Still a vegetarian? Or just because she doesn't like fish?

Also, since I've never really cooked fresh fish, myself (for some reason, it makes me nervous), how did you know how long to cook it?

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

We had couscous, and heirloom tomatoes from our garden.

As to whether Delia is a vegetarian -- I have no idea. I cook her vegetarian meals and she won't eat 'em. Too many vegetables. But she does occasionally balk and meat. I think she's confused; she doesn't know what she wants. So I just keep offering everything.

I got an idea last night: I have been getting Cooking Light for years. I just got an issue last night, and one woman's letter in the letter column said that in her family, she has everyone pick out one recipe to try each month. They get the ingredients, and then that person makes the recipe and serves it to the family. I mentioned the idea to the girls and they sound interested. It will be a good project, especially for Delia; she is more interested in cooking than Fiona is, and it will give her some cooking experience.

Re: time cooking: you cook it until the fish flakes easily when prodded with a fork.

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

My cookbooks (James Beard and a few others) say fish that flakes easily is overcooked, and recommends cooking just until the center reaches 120 degrees F. The FDA recommends cooking to 130F. You don't get flaking until about 150F.

A lot of old cookbooks (the ones that try to be comprehensive) give tables of distance from broiler and thickness of fish to predict how many minutes to give it before checking. I discovered I like the texture better when fish is cooked to about 125 F. I figure there's enough accumulated heat to bring it up to 130F while I fiddle with plates and turning off the oven. (Better than cooked to flaking. I sometimes cook to 130F.) A lot of my cooking became more relaxed when I got a meat thermometer, I stopped overcooking stuff until it fell apart. It's one of the best purchases I ever made, at only $10, and I recommend it to everyone who ever cooks meat or fish. (Poultry needs to be cooked to a much higher internal temperature than fish, but I use the same thermometer to recognize it.)

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

I remember not liking fish of any kind when i was a round the same age as your daughters.

Now I love fish in almost any form.

[woodrunner.livejournal.com]

I'd like to suggest a fish dish that your daughters might like: Rainbow trout sandwiches.

It's essentially rainbow trout fillets, pressed in cornmeal to give it a crunchy crust, and pan-fried in minimum oil (I just use spray-on olive oil) until cooked, flipping once or twice. Put the fillets in toasted (slice open, toast in toaster oven or in oven) panini bread with lettuce and tomato and mayo.

It's one of my favourite dishes to make, doesn't have a fishy taste that I notice, and is usually served with salad. It's a very fast dinner. I don't buy pre-made or frozen fillets, just the fish itself skin and all at the store, take off the skin myself (but butchers will do it for you - not very well, though!) and cut the pieces to sandwich size before cooking.

[cammykitty.livejournal.com]

Yum yum! both good and healthy!

[wilfulcait.livejournal.com]

But they tasted it, and they didn't say "never again." So put it in rotation about twice a month, and eventually maybe the bites will get bigger.

[peacockharpy.livejournal.com]

My husband would like you to know (based on the magic combination of the words lemon, butter, dill, and parmesan) that he votes in favor of your recipe. I'll have to try that here. :)

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

Salmon's good with dill and butter, too. Spread mayo on top, then squeeze lemon and melted butter and bake. Cholesterol city, but not so much if you spread it thin.

I was late to see your 'give me recipes' post, or I would have mentioned the salmon. My family loves it. *g*

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

This sounds like progress to me! And also importantly, you got to have yummy halibut. My dad started serving me fish prepared like that when my mom (who has a fish allergy) was taking night classes when I was five, but my parents played me like a cheap fiddle when it came to their own food likes and dislikes. "Oh, we'll have [food] -- we like it -- [otherparent] just doesn't know what's good!" (Fish was the exception -- that was, "Poor, poor Mommy! She can't have fish because she's allergic! It's so sad!") Of course, I ended up with my own set of dislikes not shared by either of them, but they each got to share with me things they liked and their spouse didn't.

[penmage.livejournal.com]

My mother makes this absolutely delicious fried fish every single passover. She also makes it other times, but it's become part of our traditional passover repetoir. Me, I can take fish or leave it most of the time, but that stuff is fantastic.

My little sister (who is seventeen now, mind) is an extremely picky eater. By law of my parents house, once a year, on passover, she has to try the fish again. This is one of my favorite spectacles. I don't think she ever has actually tasted the fish - between the face-making and the gagging and the groaning, it's kind of completely ridiculous.

My other sister, who's currently fifteen, used to go through the same "oh god it will make me sick please no" litany, until one year she actually tasted it. Now she likes it quite a lot.

[naomikritzer]

I don't think I've ever made halibut. However, we had dinner at my parents' house tonight, before they went off to their synagogue for Rosh Hashanah services, and they made halibut, in this sauce of sour cream and fresh fennel. It was lovely. (And I'm not normally that big a fan of sour cream.)

Of course, I immediately thought of you. :-)