Grilling Series: Halibut and Butternut Squash

For my first post for the Grilling Series, I decided to go out on a limb and try something that I was not fully comfortable with and have never grilled before.  I wanted to grill fish but was not sure what would be the best kind to grill as there is such a large variety of fish to choose from.  I went to the local store and got some advise from the butcher as to which kind of fish would be good to grill and he recommended Halibut.  Halibut is sweet and mild in fish flavor, which is perfect for me as I do not like a fishy flavor.

Grilling Butternut Squash

*** Before grilling the Halibut, I prepared the Butternut Squash. 

1) Use a potato peeler to remove the outside skin and then cut slices about .125” – .1875” thick with a tolerance +/- .0625 (a bit of some engineering talk). Butternut Squash is a bit hard so you will want to put the pieces in a plastic container with plastic wrap with ventilation holes and place it in the microwave for about 4-5 minutes. This will get the Butternut Squash soft before grilling it. 

2)  Brush some olive oil on each side so that they do not stick to the grill and season them with some salt.

3) Put these on the grill before the Halibut as these take a bit longer to grill.

Now for the Halibut (I was a bit nervous)

1) Seasoning the Halibut: I used a Lemon Pepper seasoning that the butcher suggested which I generously coated the fish.

2) Brush some oil on the grill (not on the fish). This will help the fish from sticking to the grill. 

3) With the heat turned up HIGH, place the fish on the grill and close the lid for 2-3 minutes, turn the fish 45 degrees and close the lid for another 2-3 minutes.  Be very gentle when turning or flipping the fish, it can easily break apart.

*** This would be a great time to flip your Butternut Squash to make sure they are getting some of the grill marks on both sides.  It is important that you watch these and if the edges of the Butternut Squash start to turn black, then you should take them off.

4) You will then turn the fish over and grill it covered for another 2-3 minutes.  Yes, you guessed it, you then turn the first 45 degrees and left it on there for about 4-5 minutes to make sure the fish was done.

5) Is It Done: If you have a thermometer, you will want to reach a temperature between 145 and 150 degrees.  A good way that I learned when the fish is done is when the fish becomes flaky. 

This meal turned out great!  I was very impressed with how tender and juice the fish was.  Over all it was a very healthy meal that took a bit of time to prepare but kept the kitchen nice and cool with out turning on the stove or oven.  The Butternut Squash was very tasty as well. 

Note: And for the skewers that you see in the picture above, we had some extra vegetables from our garden that we wanted to use up.  This is a very easy and clean way to cook vegetables on the grill.  I will be going into using skewers and what you can cook with them on another post soon.  Stay tuned!