Erica De Mane

Still Life with Fish, Bread, and Olives, by Pieter Claesz.

Recipe below: Halibut with an Olivata Crust

Isn’t it wonderful when a loved but somehow forgotten dish comes back into your life? Fish baked with a crusty top was fashionable when I was a kid. My mother often served it to company, because it was easy, looked fancy, and tasted good. She mixed breadcrumbs, dried oregano, sometimes anchovies or capers, and garlic and packed it all down on cod fillets. Occasionally she’d add pine nuts or almonds. The resulting dish was crunchy, oily, and tender, loaded with the flavors of Southern Italy. That covers many culinary must-haves for me.

When did I last cook it? I can’t remember. When you cook as much as I do, certain foods get pushed aside to make room for newer, more exciting creations. But then those old dishes, if they’re good ones, always find their way back into my culinary consciousness, either for an obvious reason, such as seeing them on a menu, or in random thoughts, like in a dream. I often dream about food. Most cooks do.

My reawakening to crust-topped fish came while I was paging through a French-language cookbook at a library sale. I saw a photo of what looked just like my mother’s crunchy fish. I thought, how old-fashioned but how perfect. I could taste it, feel the textures on my tongue. I needed to make it, right away.

The topping for such a dish can vary, but the technique won’t, and you’ll want to get it down. I’ve found that cooking the fish quickly in a hot oven is essential for a crisp top and a moist interior. If your heat is low, you’ll wind up with a flabby topping and steamed-out fish that smells like your college cafeteria. So I give it a blast in a 450-degree oven until it’s just tender, pull it out, and let it sit for about 3 or 4 minutes before serving it. That allows the fish to firm up and heat through to perfection, so you get that tidy little fish package that plates up so nicely.

Halibut with an Olivata Crust

⅓ cup black olives (Gaeta are a good choice), rinsed, patted dry, and pitted
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 large shallot, cut into small dice
½ cup breadcrumbs, not too finely ground
6 big sprigs thyme, the leaves chopped, plus the leaves from about 5 or so sprigs for garnish
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
The grated zest from 1 big lemon
Salt
Black pepper
4 pieces halibut, skinned (about 6 ounces each), about ½ or ¾ inch thick
A big splash of brandy or cognac
The leaves from few big sprigs of flat-leaf parsley, left whole

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Pulse the olives with a tablespoon of olive oil in the food processor until finely chopped but not puréed.

In a sauté pan, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat. Add the shallots, and sauté until soft, about a minute. Add the breadcrumbs, and heat until crisp, another minute or so. Take the pan off the heat, and add the olive mixture, stirring to blend it in. Add the thyme, mustard, and lemon zest. Season with black pepper. Taste to see if it needs salt (if your olives are salty, you might not want to add any salt). The mixture should stick together when pressed between your fingers. If it’s too dry, add a little more olive oil.

Choose a low-sided baking dish that will hold the fish with out crowding. Drizzle the bottom with olive oil, and lay the halibut in the dish, leaving a little space between the pieces. Press an approximately ¼-inch-thick layer of the breadcrumb mix on the top of each piece of fish. Give everything another drizzle of olive oil, and drizzle the brandy over the fish.

Bake until the fish is just cooked through and its top is crispy, about 5 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish. Take the fish from the oven, and let sit for about 3 minutes, so it can firm up a bit. Plate, garnishing with the reserved thyme and parsley leaves. I like this served with asparagus vinaigrette or a watercress side salad.