Miso Glazed Halibut with Baby Bok Choy and a Sake Butter Sauce – sounds like one of those fancy-pants meals, huh? But it’s so easy to make and pretty quick too!
It was Oscar Wilde who said, “Everything in moderation, including moderation”.
Generally speaking, I don’t cook with a lot of butter. Believe me, it’s not for a lack of appreciation for the magical ingredient. I certainly never met a hollandaise I didn’t adore! So when I was thinking of a sauce to serve along with the halibut, I thought about a classic beurre blanc – a French white butter sauce. Sounds great, but I wanted to put a Japanese spin on things. I thought about using sake instead of white wine. Feeling a bit like a creative genius, a quick online search destroyed any idea of culinary gratification that I may have had – this was not an original idea (story of my life). As it turns out, Martha Stewart via Chef Tom Douglas had a recipe for such a sauce. After a quick review of the ingredients, it looked pretty good, so I gave it a whirl. With just a small adaptation, the sake butter sauce was definitely a winner!
Typically, I choose not to cook with a lot butter. But if Oscar Wilde allows me to enjoy a buttery sauce from time-to-time, well then why the heck not?! Rich and creamy, it pairs beautifully with the garlicy baby bok choy and miso glazed halibut. I’m sure all of this sounds well and good… but who’s got the time and patience to make such a fancy-pant dish? You do! And you know why? Because despite the way it may look and sound, it’s super easy to make and only takes about 35 – 45 minutes. Not too bad for a fancy-pant dish, eh?
- Miso Glazed Halibut
- 3 tablespoons shiro (white) miso
- ¼ cup mirin
- 2 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
- 1 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced
- 4 (6 ounce) halibut fillets
- Sake Butter Sauce
- 9 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons peeled julienned ginger
- 1 tablespoon minced shallots
- ½ cup + I teaspoon sake
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon fresh lime juice
- Kosher salt
- Baby Bok Choy
- 2 heads baby bok choy, quartered lengthwise
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 2 clove garlic, crushed
- Kosher salt
- Toppings
- dry roasted peanuts, roughly chopped
- scallions, thinly sliced
- Add the first 6 ingredients of the miso glaze to a small sauce pan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat (do not let it boil). Remove from heat and let it cool to room temperature.
- Place the halibut fillets on a plate (skin side down). Brush the miso glaze onto the fish and refrigerate for 30 minutes to marinate.
- While the halibut fillets are marinating, work on the sake butter sauce. Heat 1 tablespoon of butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the ginger and shallots and cook for 2 -3 minutes, stirring frequently. Add ½ cup of sake, bring to a boil, and allow to reduce for about 3minutes. Add the heavy cream and then allow to reduce again for about 2 minutes. Begin to add the butter a tablespoon at a time, allow the butter to melt before before adding another tablespoon. Whisk constantly. Once thick and creamy, remove from heat. Whisk in the remaining tablespoon of sake, lime juice, and ¼ teaspoon Kosher salt. Taste and season with more salt, if needed. Set aside until ready to use.
- Position the oven rack about 4- 6 inches away from the heat source and preheat the broiler for 3 minutes. Place the marinated halibut, skin side down, on a sheet pan lined with foil, and cook until the exterior is caramelized and slightly opaque in the center, about 7 -10 minutes, depending on thickness and distance from the broiler.
- While the fish is cooking, prepare the bok choy. In a large frying pan, heat a tablespoon of oil over medium high heat. Once the oil is hot and shimmering, add the garlic and cook until fragrant, stirring frequently. Add the bok choy, cut side down, and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Cook on each side, about a minute per side or until slightly charred. Remove from heat.
- Warm the sake butter sauce and whisk over medium heat until it's nice a fluid again. Ladle the sake butter sauce onto the plate. Add the bok choy, halibut, and top with peanuts and scallions. Serve immediately and enjoy!
I made this for dinner last night and it was SO SO SO DELICIOUS!!! I used fresh snapper instead of halibut and it was definitely a restaurant quality meal!! Thanks so much for the recipe!
Yay! I’m so glad you enjoyed the dish, Shelly! And snapper is just a stunning fish! Thanks so much for the note and I hope you have a great weekend!
Sake butter sauce? I didn’t see it wrong, right? I’m drooling over that fish and sauce now. This is going to be my dinner next week.
Wow, love this recipe! The glaze and sauce sound really delicious!
Thanks Sabrina!
This is so gorgeous and looks like a dish right out of a Michelin starred restaurant! Girl, there’s nothing more discouraging than doing a google search and finding out someone already took your wonderfully creative idea. Dang! But you recovered nicely and adapted it perfectly 🙂 Also, thank you so much for that awesome cookbook. I love it! You did a fantastic job and it could literally be on the shelf at Barnes & Noble. Can’t wait until the day that actually happens too 😉
Halibut is one of my favorite fishes so I am very eager to make this dish. Bring on the butter 🙂
Bring on the butter, for sure! 🙂
This sake butter sauce intrigues me and after just making a loaf of sour dough bread I’d eat the two for lunch alone! Beautiful photographs. I have to head to the market and might have to look and see if halibut is there, delicious!
Ooo…. homemade sour dough bread is THE best!!!! I would totally sop up the sake butter sauce with a loaf right out of the oven! Hope you have a great weekend, Kevin 🙂
This looks so good!! I love meals that appear fancy but require minimal work 🙂
Me too! Thanks Natasha!
Totally agree – everything in moderation, including moderation!! I LOVE butter, but obviously I’m not gonna cook with it every single day. If I did, I’m sure I’d never get off the treadmill 😀 This miso glazed halibut with sake butter sauce is seriously calling, er screaming, my name. Halibut is definitely one of my favourite forms of seafood and then paired with this sauce is just heavenly. Pinned! Have a wonderful weekend, Kathleen!
You and me both girl! If that were the case, I’d have to be taking my meals while on the treadmill! But to indulge every once in a while – I think you’ve just gotta do it! Hope you have a great weekend too!
It doesn’t matter that Martha had the recipe idea too because I still think you’re a genius for thinking of it!! This looks gorgeousss…like the kind of restaurant meal that will blow your guests socks off. Can’t wait to try this out! 😀
Aww… thanks girl! My husband did actually make the comment that it tasted like something from a restaurant. I told him it was all that butter 😉
Oscar Wilde was a very clever man! It is important to treat yourself every now and then. Love Japanese cuisine so this is right up my alley – you already had me at the miso glazing 🙂
Indeed he was! It’s the little indulgences in life that make it so sweet 🙂
This looks so yummy and refreshing, Kathleen. Love how beautiful it looks and how delicious and flavorful it has come out! 🙂
Thank you, Anu! Hope you have a nice weekend 🙂
Halibut with a nice sauce – priceless! Love it! The dish is beautiful! I agree about “everything in moderation”!
Thanks so much, Mira!
I feel your pain, girl! There is no feeling of originality in the age of the interwebs. I say do what you want and be proud! I absolutely love your Japanese twist with the sake butter sauce! And I love a dish that looks fancy pants and can be ready in under an hour!
Cheers to that girl! Hope you have a great weekend!
Kathleen this is super creative, looks amazing and sounds so incredible. I can’t believe this gourmet dish can be prepared so quickly! Will definitely have to give this halibut a try!
Thanks Fida! Isn’t it just the best when you can get a quick fancy-pants meals 😉
I bet Martha Stewart got that recipe from David Chang! There is no way she came up with something like that herself, and have you noticed lately that she’s got David Chang permanently stuck by her side?? This is SO COOL Kathleen, you know it is totally my type of flavours. I know most people would see this and think it’s a Japanese spin on classic, but I think of this as a Westernised spin on a Japanese classic!!! Sharing!!! This really so so beautiful Kathleen (and OMG you photos as always make me swoon)
Lol! I was a bit surprised to see this under a Martha Stewart recipe too – turns out it’s a Tom Douglas recipe, now it makes sense!
i was put in a situation that had me learning and cooking meals from persian cuisine for five solid weeks. it was all-enveloping. it was inspiring. it was luxuriously wonderful. if i did not know better, i believe my tummy was writing a haiku about it nightly 🙂 yesterday, saw all things put back into the land of normal; i am, again, walking blogs and eating with and without borders. i learned yesterday i can make a soup using green pea hulls so i am going to make a go of it and have that for lunch today. this lime-kissed sake butter sauce… hello?!?! i am taking jimi back to the market right now to grab some halibut. i fear i might be taking a bath with that sauce before this is all over. i will return shortly. putting on sneakers…
i could not resist grabbing some beautiful end of season dungeness. i was thinking your sauce application would be craaazy yum slathered all over ridiculously big chunks of our west coast crab. i am going to go nuts with it tonight as i cook, think of your brilliance, plate up, and shove it in my face while watching the latest episode of “chef’s table”. i predict a 5star evening. thank youuuu 🙂 xoxoxoxo
Omg… I LOVE Dungeness crab!!!! And omg dipping that sweet meat into the sake butter sauce would be out of this world! This is the second time this week I’ve heard someone talk about ‘Chef’s Table’, I’ve gotta see it! If it’s anything like ‘Mind of a Chef’, I’ll be all over it!
i am nuts over “mind of a chef”, kathleen. this is a bit of that and so much more in another direction. the production. the music. the editing. the quality of interview. the insight into their minds. wow wow wow! the “jiro dreams of sushi” director is the one behind this series of phenomenal. be sure to carve out time to watch season1, as well as the two from this season. two enthusiastic paws up! xoxoxo (i ate four bowls of your chili today… two for lunch and two for dinner. i am still full, walking around shamelessly with elastic waisted pants, and feelin’ like a fat happy tick).
That sounds like an amazing situation to be put in – I LOVE Persian cuisine! And a soup using green pea hulls sounds very interesting! I love dishes that make use of what are traditionally considered scraps! Hope you and Jimi enjoy your sake butter bath 😉
I’m all about moderation in moderation – thanks, Oscar! 🙂 Another knock-out, Kathleen. I can imagine about limitless uses for sake butter sauce. Mouth. Is. Watering.
Absolutely! That sake butter sauce is great on veggies, salmon, eggs, etc 🙂
Guuurl, at this point in the culinary world, everyone is reinventing the wheel. Pretty much every great idea has been done before, but that shouldn’t deter you from thinking you have a fabulous idea and executing it!! This dish looks absolutely delicious, Kathleen! Like, send a ton of napkins pronto because my keyboard is covered in drool! I don’t use butter a whole lot either, but every once in a while one MUST indulge! And THIS is how to do it! SO much yum going on here!! Pinned! I’m totally going to make this next time my MIL comes over for dinner! Cheers, sweets! <3
Aw… thanks girl! As far as I’m concerned, a little indulgence from time-to-time is good for you 😉
The first thing I thought when I saw this, Kathleen (other than how beautiful it looks) is ‘now here’ s a fancy-pant dish!’
What a lovely surprise to find out how easy it is to make. This would be so perfect to serve to guests! 🙂
Lol! You gotta have a ‘fancy-pants’ dish from time-to-time, right?! 😉