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More concise recipe can be found here. Even more photos can be found here.
My wife and I rarely go out on Valentine's. We usually will go out the day before or after instead. I usually make dinner for my wife instead and I think I've posted previous recipes here or on Extramsg. This year I was at the deli, making sure that if it got overwhelmingly busy I could help out. Meanwhile, however, I was downstairs making my wife dinner, continuing the tradition. Didn't have any time to plan. I just went over to Whole Foods and grabbed what sounded good. I knew she'd want fish and I knew that I needed to avoid grains since my wife is on a low glycemic index diet right now.
First issue was what to use for a starch or starch substitute. Looking in the bulk section, I chose lentils partially for the color and partially because they're easy to cook. Would have loved to do something like wheatberries, but they're more of a pain. Knew my wife wasn't a fan of the earthiness of lentils, so I'd have to find some flavors to off-set that earthiness. Knew citrus would be a great match with the lentils and when I saw blood oranges, the choice was made.
My wife doesn't like a lot of bitter greens, so I thought leeks would be a good alternative. I wanted to add more sweetness to the dish, so I figured I'd add apples and fennel with the leeks. Forgot about the fennel and it was probably a little much anyway with all the other flavors.
Went to choose the fish. Salmon was much too expensive and I didn't know if it'd be the best match anyway. Thought about rock cod because it's so cheap, but decided on halibut, which my wife really enjoys instead, even though at over $20/lb, it was rather spendy. Would have considered scallops, but my wife isn't a big fan. Crab looked really good as well and I thought it would be an interesting addition to the leeks, so I grabbed some of that also. By the time I got back to the deli, the dish was fully formed in my head.
The lentils would take the longest, so I started with them. Minced the onions and garlic and cooked them over medium heat in oil until very soft and melted. I didn't want them to be noticeable in the final lentils, so I wanted them very small and very soft. Once melted as above, I added the curry powder, fully incorporated it, and sauteed the mixture until fragrant, essentially making a sofrito. Added the rinsed lentils and salt, mixed it thoroughly, and added the water. Turned up the heat and brought the mixture to a boil and then lowered it to a simmer, stirring regularly until the lentils were tender but not mushy. I took it off the heat, but left it in the flavorful liquid.
I sliced off the peels of the blood oranges, rolled them onto their side, slicing cross-grain in 1/8" thick pieces. After all the oranges were sliced, I went through and removed the seeds and quartered the slices. If you were really dedicated, you could pull each slice apart at their natural segments. At this point, I drained the lentils, and tossed the blood orange pieces on top, carefully folding them into the lentils and then put the mixture in the fridge. I wanted the lentils to be somewhat cold in contrast to the rest of the dish.
I added the butter to a pot and put it on medium-low heat along with the olive oil. Next I sliced the ends off the leeks and bisected them lengthwise. I carefully cleaned them under running water to remove all the sand and dirt. I cut each of the lengths of leek into two pieces, putting all the darker green sections in one pile and the more tender, whiter sections in another pile. I sliced the tender chunks of leeks crosswise in 1/4" segments. I removed the tougher outer pieces of the darker sections and diced the interior leaves. I like the two different sizes and textures of the leeks. When done, I had about two or three times as many of the longer, more tender pieces of leek. I then peeled and diced the apples.
I added the leeks, apple, and salt to the butter, mixed them thoroughly, and then added just enough water to barely cover the mixture. I turned up the heat to bring the liquid to a low simmer and cooked them until the leeks and apples were tender, about 5-10 minutes. I strained the leeks, putting the liquid back on the heat, brining it to a heavy simmer and cooking it until the water had fully evaporated. You could brown the butter at this point depending on the flavor profile you're looking for. I wanted something milder.
I added the leeks mixture back to this and put it off the heat. I cracked open the crab legs and removed the meat to a bowl, yielding about 40% meat. I added the meat to the leeks and butter mixture and put everything on low heat, being careful not to get it hot enough to further cook the crab.
I put a sautee pan on medium-high heat with oil. I cut the halibut into single portions, scored the skin (which is probably unnecessary), and salted the pieces. Once the oil was beginning to smoke, I added the halibut skin side down so that it sizzled. Once the skin was crisp and released from the bottom of the pan, I flipped it over and added it to a 350 degree oven to finish cooking, about 7 minutes. (I did it by feel. Depends on how much cooking in the pan and how thick the halibut is.)
Finished the dish by putting the lentils along the bottom of the plate, then some of the leeks and crab in the center of the lentils, topped by the halibut and then the leeks again on top of the halibut. I drizzled some of the butter over everything and then squeezed lemon juice over the dish. That's it.
Also made some for the staff. Two platters like this disappeared in about 10 minutes. Made one with crab and one without since two people had crustacean allergies. My staff meals have mixed results (green jackfruit scares people), but they seemed to really like this one. Cost me under $50 for everything. Probably would have cost about $70 if I did full portions of the halibut for everyone, not just my wife.
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