Recipe — 15 minutes · serves 2 · Easy
Butter-Basted Halibut Cheeks with Garlic and Thyme
The classic way with cheeks: a hot pan, foaming butter, garlic and thyme spooned over until they're just set. Eight minutes, start to plate.
Buy the fish for this recipe
Ingredients
- —450 g (1 lb) halibut cheeks, patted very dry
- —1 tbsp neutral oil
- —45 g butter
- —2 garlic cloves, lightly crushed
- —3 sprigs thyme
- —Flaky salt, cracked pepper, lemon wedges
Method
- 01
Pat the cheeks bone dry and season with salt and pepper — surface moisture is the enemy of colour.
- 02
Heat the oil in a heavy pan over medium-high until it shimmers. Lay the cheeks in flat side down, spaced apart.
- 03
Sear undisturbed 2 minutes until deep golden. Flip.
- 04
Drop in the butter, garlic and thyme. Tilt the pan and spoon the foaming butter over the cheeks for 60–90 seconds.
- 05
Pull them the moment they turn opaque and spring back — they go from perfect to chalky in under a minute.
- 06
Rest one minute, spoon the pan butter over and finish with flaky salt and lemon.
From the counter: Cheeks are all muscle and no bone, so they cook faster than a fillet of the same thickness. Set a timer.