Grilled Halibut and Prawns with Summer Vegetable Fricassee and Garlic Scape Pesto
Elegant and easy. It’s what summer’s all about.
By Erin Henderson
Last year I spent a day volunteering on a farm about an hour west of Toronto.
It was an invigorating revelation in every way: clear skies, honest work, the pure joy of harvesting something you grew yourself.
Among the plants I picked, plucked, and trimmed, were garlic scapes. These are the winding, green tendrils that spike out of the soil as the garlic bulb forms underground. They are fleeting in their season, so you won’t see them around much longer. As they say, make pesto while the scapes shine.
You can use garlic scape pesto for almost anything, including a terrific filling for stuffed pasta. In this case, we it used to top a seared halibut that was served with vegetable fricassee for my sister’s birthday dinner.
A fricassee, by definition, is a type of stew. It’s usually made with meat and starts cooking in butter and stock and is finished with cream to make a luscious sauce. In our interpretation, we decided to leave the cream out: the early-summer vegetables were enticingly bright and fresh and didn’t need to be weighed down with rich sauces.
I also found some gorgeous morel mushrooms at my local farmer’s market which we sautéed in butter separately and added last minute as we didn’t want to risk the earthy brown of the mushroom tinting the bright green of the vegetable medley.
Don’t shy away from sautéing radish. It’s not common practice in Canada, but it should be. The gentle simmer in butter softens their bite, almost rendering them sweet.
You can make the pesto a day or two in advance to make for even speedier preparation.
We like to serve family style, though I do offer instructions for plating if you are someone who craves guidance.
Grilled Halibut and Prawns with Summer Vegetable Fricassee and Garlic Scape Pesto
This is a brilliant dinner for outdoor dining when it’s hot.
It’s indulgent, but healthy (if that’s your thing), it comes together in minutes, and keeps stove use to a minimum. It’s also very stylish when the occasion demands a bit of elevation to everyday dining.
Serves: 4
Chef level: easy
Ingredients:
Fish:
- 4, 8-ounce halibut filets, about 2 inches thick
- 8 large-sized prawns, shell on
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
Fricassee:
- 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 4 Tbsp butter
- 1 large leek, washed thoroughly and sliced about ½ a centimetre
- 1 bunch multi-coloured or breakfast radishes, washed and quartered
- 1 bunch Ontario asparagus, washed and chopped into 1-inch pieces
- 1 cup fresh spring peas
- 1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
- ½ cup vegetable broth
- ¼ cup dry white wine
- S+P, to taste
- 1 quart fresh morel mushrooms, sliced in half
Pesto:
- 1 cup garlic scape pesto (recipe below)
How to make it:
- In a deep sauté pan, add the evoo and butter and melt over medium-low heat.
- Add the leek, stirring to soften but not brown, about a minute.
- Meanwhile, in a separate pan, warm more butter and oil and add morels, stirring to cook and soften, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside until needed.
- Add the radishes, pepper, and asparagus to the leeks, stirring to combine and soften about 3 minutes.
- Add the peas.
- Add in the broth and wine, allowing to gently simmer and slightly cook down.
- Lower the heat and cover until ready to use.
- Heat the barbecue over a medium flame
- Coat the halibut and prawns in olive oil, sprinkling the fish with salt and pepper.
- Set the halibut and prawns on a well-oiled grill, cooking until just cooked through and opaque, about 3 minutes a side for the fish, 30 seconds to a minute for the prawns. (keep a close eye – you don’t want to overcook!)
Plating:
Scoop the fricassee on the centre of a plate, top with fish and spreading pesto over the filet. Lay two prawns on the side.
Wine Pairing:
The sweet pungency of the garlic scape, the brightness of the green vegetables, and earthy flavours of the morels, make me think of Austria's Grüner Veltliner, a snappy white wine with notes of celery, lentils and and earthy minerality.
Garlic Scape Pesto
This is sharp, pungent, umami-driven pesto is brilliant on turkey burgers, dolloped on new potatoes, or stuffed into fresh cappelletti pasta.
Raw garlic scapes aren’t necessarily as fierce as garlic bulbs, but can still have that fiery heat, so it’s important to taste your scape before using to determine how many you should use, and if salt and pepper are necessary at all.
Makes: about 2 cups
Chef level: easy
Ingredients:
- ½ cup walnuts, roughly chopped
- 1 cup fresh garlic scapes, about 16, roughly chopped
- 1/3 cup Parmesan, cut into chunks
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 cup fresh basil, torn
- ½ lemon, juiced
- salt and pepper to taste
How You Make It:
- Into a food processor, add the garlic scapes and whizz for 20 seconds.
- Scrape down the sides with a spatula, and add the walnuts, whirring again for another 20 seconds.
- Scrape down the sides once more and add in the Parmesan, and whir for another 20 seconds. By now you should have a thick paste with a few pebbly bits in it.
- Add in the basil and lemon juice and whirl again, now adding the evoo through the top to incorporate.
- Keep processing until everything is incorporated into a rough, but spreadable, paste.
- Test for salt and pepper.
- Use immediately on pasta, veg, or meat, or store in a tightly sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.