Just for the Halibut

It's been a while since I just blogged about food, what with the News-Press ever-melting and Bush ever-revolting, but last night's dinner was just too good not to share. Of course, we didn't share, really, but someday we will have people over for dinner again. In the meantime, it's cyber-dinner-party: all the deliciousness and none of the calories!

To kick off while we were in baking/cooking mode, we enjoyed our new favorite cocktail, the Pama-politan. Sort of like a Cosmo, but instead of cranberry juice we sub in Pama Liqueur (don't take it for pomegranate!), which leads to supreme tastiness and a beautiful grey-pink color.

The meal itself features something I think I came up with on my own, but after reading so many cookbooks I'm often the Jayson Blair of the kitchen without knowing it. I wanted to try to crust Alaskan halibut, but that seemed too hard to pull off. So instead I make a "hash" of chopped shiitakes and macadamia nuts. They get cooked in tangerine olive oil, a tiny bit of butter, some minced shallot, salt, peper, some orange zest, and the juice of half a small orange. That gets a sprinkling of Grand Marnier. Let it get a bit crunchy. Serve with the fish you pan cook in some of the tangerine olive oil. For sides we made orzo and fresh lima beans in butter and shallots.

The wine was a delightful and spritely Cold Heaven 2005 viognier. None of that froot loop-y character in this wine, so don't fret.

Dessert, well, you've been introduced up top. Our brown turkey fig is figging out, so the tart is a cornmeal rosemary crust (some crunch, some forest floor zip), a lemon-zabaglione custard, and the figs, sliced, never cooked, painted with some honey-red current glaze. As if we needed anything else, a glass of Williams Selyem 2001 port (yep, in addition to all those killer pinots they make a very viscuous port) sealed the meal.