Recipe: Seared Haddock & Gazpacho Salsa with Tomato Vinaigrette

Deb from Smitten Kitchen has included the perfect summer dinner in her cookbook (UK/US) (which is one of my all time favourites) – a light, refreshing and healthy dish called Seared Halibut and Gazpacho Salsa with Tomato Vinaigrette.

Not able to find halibut, I used haddock instead. I also skipped sweet onion that she added to the salsa because I couldn’t find that either, but feel free to add it in. She calls for 1/2, diced, in the salsa. Anyway, it still turned out to be a tasty, colourful meal like something out of the Mediterranean, and easy to put together too.

Ingredients: 

For the tomato vinaigrette:

• 1 tomato, peeled, seeded and chopped
• 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• Table salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

For the fish:

• Four 170-225g haddock fillets (or other white fish) – at room temperature
• Olive oil to coat pan
• Table salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

For the salsa:

• 4 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 1/2 cucumber, seeded and diced
• 2 peppers (different colours!), seeded and diced

To garnish:

• Fresh parsley, finely chopped

Start with the vinaigrette. Use a blender to puree the tomato. Add the sherry vinegar. Drizzle in your olive oil. Add salt and pepper to season and then set aside.

You can also prepare the salsa now, dicing all of your veggies. Set these aside as well.

Once your fish has reached room temperature, season on both sides with salt and pepper. Deb suggests “generally” which turned out to be a good suggestion as ours came out very flavourful. Heat a large frying pan on medium high then coat with olive oil. Once the oil is hot, add your fish and cook for 3-4 minutes on one side before flipping to cook the other side for a few more minutes. It’s ready when the fish is opaque and flakes with a fork.

Prepare the plates with a bed of salsa, place a piece of fish on top and add a few spoonfuls of the vinaigrette.

We paired ours with roasted potatoes.

Enjoy!

Links: fish plate, blue bowl (sale!).