After a few heavy meals on the weekend, I was looking for something on the lighter side and when thinking about lighter meals, seafood often comes to mind. I was lucky enough to come across some more baby artichokes on the weekend that I just had to pick up and I wanted to include them in the meal as I have been enjoying them a lot lately. One of the first things that came to mind was a piccata using a white fish along with the artichoke hearts. This white fish piccata is pretty similar to my favorite chicken piccata where the meat is cooked in the pan and then the pan is deglazed with white wine that along with some lemon, butter and capers forms a tasty sauce that is served over the meat. Picatta is often served over pasta or rice but as I have been using quinoa so often recently, that was the first thing that came to mind and I knew that it would absorb all of the extra lemon and caper sauce that dripped into it. Other than preparing the baby artichoke hearts, this meal is really easy to make, taking no more time than it takes to cook the quinoa and the results are well worth it! The picatta’s lemony sauce works amazingly well with seafood and in this case it also infused the bed of quinoa with its amazing flavour. I served this meal with a side of simple steamed asparagus to give it another hit of springs bounty.
Halibut Piccata with Baby Artichokes on Quinoa
ingredients
- 1 cup quinoa
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 6 baby artichoke hearts (halved)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 (6 ounce) halibut fillets
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup of white wine (or chicken stock)
- 1 lemon (juice and zest)
- 2 tablespoons capers
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 2 tablespoons parsley (chopped)
directions
- Simmer the quinoa and the baby artichoke hearts in the chicken stock until absorbed, about 15-20 minutes.
- Heat the oil in a pan.
- Season the halibut with salt and pepper.
- Add the halibut and cook until lightly golden brown on both sides, about 3-5 minutes per side and set aside.
- Add the white wine and lemon to the pan, deglaze and simmer to reduce the sauce for a few minutes.
- Add the capers and butter and heat until the butter melts into the sauce.
- Remove from heat and stir in the parsley.
- Serve the halibut on a bed of quinoa with the artichoke hearts and top with the lemon and caper sauce.
Option: For One-Pan: Make this a one-pan meal by adding 1 cup of quinoa or rice and 2 cups broth or water (or 8 ounces of pasta and 2 1/4 cups broth or water) to the sauce in step 5 and simmer, covered, until cooked, about 20 minutes (or 12 minutes for pasta).
um, I think I just drooled on my keyboard! that looks and sounds amazing! you have all my favorite things: halibut, artichokes and lemony goodness! yum! definitely saving this recipe to my file.
I love quinoa nad fish is my favorie. Perect dish for me!
Nisrine
That is an amazing meal! I love the idea of piccata with fish … great flavors.
So healthy! Not sure if I would label this light! To me it is a big meal!
This looks SO good … I'll have to try it out this weekend, just for the HALIBUT. [Ta-DUM-bum!} (Groan …. sorry!)
Yum! I think I know what to do with the rest of my capers now.
This looks absolutely beautiful, and very tasty.
Very impressive Kevin!!
The perfect and so well balanced dish.
Absolutely delicious x
O that is one gorgeous looking dish! And incredibly healthy too!
Spring is in the air! And on your plate! What a gorgeous dish. I love the lemony butteriness of piccata.
This looks delicious, I have never thought about adding artichokes to my piccata recipe, I will have to try that.
YUM! Where did you buy the baby artichokes?
Wow this sounds good. I love lemon dishes and this just screams of summer yummy food. Num num num…
quinoa is one of my fave finds too
I'm bookmarking this dish–looks delish!
Kimberlita: I found the baby artichokes at the fresh produce store in the middle of the bottom level of the Saint Lawrence Market.
Just made this with farro. So delicious and easy. Thanks for the recipe.