I have a busy week ahead with regular work, two history sails aboard the Schooner Ardelle and the Gloucester Schooner Festival this weekend. This may be the only night where I can make something good. Plus, the wife started a new career today and what better way to celebrate than with a fish dinner!

The local Atlantic halibut fillets looked really good down at Steve Connolly’s so I got a little over 1.5 pounds. It’s been far too long since I’ve had any halibut, and at $17.95 per pound it was worth it as a rare treat.

I got a nice thick skin-on fillet from the top side of the fish, which was cut from an even larger section. I usually prefer halibut steaks, but on this occasion the fillets looked better to me. When you get a halibut fillet from top portion of a large fish, the skin will be dark versus a belly cut, which has a white skin. You will also get one section of the fillet that is a little thicker than the other. This is something I will have to keep in mind while cooking.

I also need to keep to my low FODMAP diet so I looked online for some inspiration. The only things I have to omit really, are garlic and breadcrumbs, which I love, but am learning to live without.

Keeping it simple seems to be the way to go, not too different from my recent tuna and swordfish recipes that I cooked on a grill pan. However I’m going to cook the halibut in the oven to make it even simpler. Just some herbs, some infused oil, and some lemon is all it needs.

Low FODMAP Baked Halibut

• approx 1.5 pounds halibut fillets or other thick fish
• extra virgin olive oil (I used sage and mushroom infused oil – FODMAP friendly)
• fresh or dried herbs: tarragon, dill, parsley and basil
• Fresh squeezed lemon and zest
• Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400F. Whisk together the oil, lemon and zest with the herbs. Spread on fish and let marinate for about 30 minutes. Put halibut in a baking dish and cook for about 20 minutes. Serve with low FODMAP vegetables like roasted potatoes and zucchini.

I roasted some yellow potatoes in the oven by giving them a head start while the fish marinated. If you time it just right, everything will be done around the same time.

The Verdict

Love at first bite. At 20 minutes it was done, which lined up with potatoes and although it looked like a lot of fish, it didn’t stand a chance. Meaty, yet mild the fish had big white flakes perfectly flavored by the herbs and lemon. The slightly thinner portion was more done than the thick side, but not by much, and both were firm, but still moist, not overdone. I went overboard with the fresh parsley and I’m glad I did because combined with the lemon, dill and tarragon, it was like listening to the symphony at the sweet spot in the concert hall – everything in tune and you can hear every note.

Like most of the items I buy from Steve Connolly’s, the quality was top-notch and it was caught by one of our local fishing boats. In fact I can only recall one time I was disappointed by a purchase here and that was nearly 15 years ago!

When it comes to my special low-FODMAP diet…would you know it was a special preparation if I didn’t say it? I didn’t miss the garlic and I’m pretty sure you won’t either. But if you can’t live without it, try a garlic-infused olive oil: all the flavor, none of the FODMAPs.

Thank you for reading and congratulations to my wife Danielle on her first day in her new career in education…a move this bold needed to be celebrated by a fish this big!