Pan-Seared Halibut topped with fresh summer corn, leeks, sage, and optional pancetta served over Creamy Polenta.

Seared Halibut with Corn, leeks, sage pancetta served over Creamy Polenta.

A simple recipe for Seared Halibut topped with sautéed fresh corn, leeks, pancetta (optional) and earthy sage over a bed of creamy polenta.

With the cooling fall weather, we find ourselves gravitating more towards homey and comforting meals – the perfect time to make this is when fresh corn is still in season!

A simple delicious recipe for Halibut with corn, pancetta and sage, served over a "lightened-up" creamy polenta. And the best part is it can be made un under 30 minutes! | www.feastingathome.com

Comforting, while remaining relatively light, the flavors compliment each other really well, bridging the gap between summer and fall.

You’ll be surprised at how decadent the meal feels, with such a short investment of time.

A simple delicious recipe for Halibut with corn, pancetta and sage, served over a "lightened-up" creamy polenta. And the best part is it can be made un under 30 minutes! | www.feastingathome.com

You can use shiitake mushrooms or bacon instead of pancetta and a sweet onion instead of the leeks.

 

To lighten up the creamy polenta, use a few tablespoons of sour cream instead of cheese.

The slightly tangy flavor of the sour cream brings the whole dish together.

A simple delicious recipe for Halibut with corn, pancetta and sage, served over a "lightened-up" creamy polenta. And the best part is it can be made un under 30 minutes! | www.feastingathome.com

Other Fish Options:

Often I’ll use sea bass, salmon, scallops, black cod or prawns if I can’t get my hands on halibut, and all are good substitutes. A simple delicious recipe for Halibut with corn, pancetta and sage, served over a "lightened-up" creamy polenta. And the best part is it can be made un under 30 minutes! | www.feastingathome.com

A simple delicious recipe for Halibut with corn, pancetta and sage, served over a "lightened-up" creamy polenta. And the best part is it can be made un under 30 minutes! | www.feastingathome.com

More halibut recipes you may like:

 

On the Homefront: As summer slowly shifts into fall, we are finally able to take a deep breath – another wedding season nearing its end.

For weeks, our dining room table has been overrun with backpacking gear which Brian thoughtfully sorts and sifts through –adding, subtracting, before packing it up for his annual trip to the woods. The week apart does us good, allowing us time to recover from the stress of our work and being together perhaps, a little too much.

For the first few days, we both feel this incredible liberation, this freedom of having no one to check in with, or account for our time.  But as the first few quiet glorious days pass, I begin to notice how all the little things that seem to “magically” get done around here, strangely don’t, while he’s gone.  😉

And after a few more days, the silence I’ve yearned for, becomes too quiet, and my thoughts return to him more and more as I begin to feel his absence. Our annoyances with each other gradually fade into the background, and once more I see him with clearer eyes and a heart that’s been softened.

I start to appreciate how different we are… and how absolutely necessary this is. By day six, I’ll miss him desperately. And it’s this feeling of missing,  that over the years I’ve come to love and trust, for it comes straight from the heart -undeniable, real.

 

Enjoy the halibut!

xoxo

Sylvia

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A delicious recipe for seared Halibut, featuring fresh summer corn, leeks, sage and optional pancetta served over creamy polenta.

Seared Halibut with Fresh Corn, Leek, Sage and Polenta

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 4.8 from 11 reviews

Description

A delicious recipe for seared Halibut, featuring fresh summer corn, leeks, sage and optional pancetta served over creamy polenta.


Ingredients

Units Scale

Creamy Polenta:

Sauteed Fresh Corn:

  • 1/81/4 cup finely chopped pancetta (optional, see notes)
  • 12 leeks, (1 cup white and light green parts) -sliced into 1/4 inch half-moons (rinse if dirty)
  • 12 tablespoons olive oil or butter
  • 2 ears fresh corn, shucked, kernels cut off the cob (about 2 cups)
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage

Fish:

  • 4 x 4-5 ounce pieces of halibut (or sea bass, black cod, etc. )
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil

Instructions

  1. Start the Polenta: In a medium pot bring 4 cups of water to a boil, turn heat to low, and whisk in 1 cup cornmeal (polenta) until smooth. Add salt,  granulated garlic, and a few cracks of pepper. Cover, and let cook on low heat 15-20 minutes. (You will add butter and sour cream, at the end.)
  2. Make the Corn:  Heat a little oil in a skillet over medium-high heat, and add the pancetta, and cook until crispy. Set these aside. To the same pan, add more oil or butter, then add leeks and stir for 2-3 minutes. Turn heat to medium and continue sauteing until leeks become tender about 5 minutes.  Add the corn and sage and cook for 5-7 more minutes or until corn is tender. Stir in pancetta, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
  3. Cook the Fish: In a skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil, over medium-high heat. Pat fish dry on all sides and sprinkle with salt and pepper. When oil is hot, add fish, turn heat to medium and cook about 4 minutes, or until perfectly golden. Turn over and cook until done to your liking. Depending on how thick your fish is, cooking times will vary. Turn heat off.
  4. Finish the polenta- give a good stir, whisk in butter and sour cream. Taste, adjust salt.
  5. Assemble the bowls: Divide the polenta among 4 bowls. Top with seared fish. Spoon the warm corn leek mixture over and around fish. Garnish with a sage leaf. Enjoy!

Notes

The corn-leek mixture can be made ahead and reheated.

Feel free to sub-two slices of bacon ( chopped) for the pancetta, or shittake mushrooms

Nutrition

  • Serving Size:
  • Calories: 577
  • Sugar: 5.8 g
  • Sodium: 810.7 mg
  • Fat: 36 g
  • Saturated Fat: 7.8 g
  • Carbohydrates: 42.4 g
  • Fiber: 4.5 g
  • Protein: 24.4 g
  • Cholesterol: 66.4 mg

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Comments

  1. SOOOO good! So elegant! We are mostly vegan with the exception of fish a couple times a month, so I omitted the pancetta and sour cream, otherwise followed the recipe to a T. It is such a nice flavor combination with the leaks, corn and sage–and the polenta of course! Thank you so much for giving us so many fabulous recipes. Each of your recipes are fine dining quality and I can’t wait for the next one. Tonight is going to be your mushroom risotto (seriously can’t wait!)

    Kiersten






    1. Thanks Kiersten and I am so glad you gave this a go! let us know how you like the risotto.

  2. Hi there!! I’m making this tonight, and made a batch of polenta for the first time earlier this week for a different recipe and want to use the leftovers tonight. It got super thick and is no longer creamy – can I just add water or broth to thin it out again? Also can you freeze left over polenta? Thanks!!

    1. Hi Ingrid- yes, you can warm it up gently and whisk in water, broth, milk or cream to loosen it. Adjust salt. I think it should freeze just fine!

  3. The sour cream in the polenta is a genius idea – it gave the dish a wonderful tang. Love the corn hash – doubled the batch so can fry it up the next morning!






  4. I like this recipe, it’s very elegant. Though I think I did something wrong the corn leek relish seemed too salty and I over sautéed it. I pre cooked the corn and shouldn’t have. I think I would make the topping a little different and fresher. I’ll use bacon instead of pancetta. The pancetta didn’t get crispy enough and it wasn’t small enough.






    1. Hi Robin- I see the issue with the recipe and updated it. There was a little flaw. Appreciate your feedback!

  5. Sooooooo good !
    I was looking for a recipe with corn and leek and found this amazing recipe.
    Lucky I stored halibut in my freezer !
    We licked our plates until the last drop….
    Thanks for you for your beautiful blog.

    2 food lovers from Eastern Canada xx

  6. I’ve made this twice! It gets better each time. I put it over sweet potato puree instead of polenta the second time and next time will try it over a butternut squash puree. its such a great recipe!






  7. I make dinner using one of Sylvia’s recipes at least one night a week if not more and so I have tried a TON of the recipes on this website. THIS recipe is standout hands down my favourite. I made it a week ago and am still dreaming about it! It’s so simple too. It has been added to my retinue of recipes I use to impress guests when they come over for dinner. Make it!!






  8. What a good recipe to have tried as first introduction to this site. I made this as it was written for ingredients except for substituting thyme for the sage and per instructions. It was delicious to eat and pretty in presentation, looking like the photos. I am a pretty skilled home cook, having been cooking since grade school years not because I had to but because I want to, and cook daily so always on the look out for things that seem fun to try in addition to being delicious at outcome. This hit all the marks. Thanks so much for taking the time to write the recipes and provide the photos on this site. And I enjoyed a new learning a new trick – sour cream stirred into polenta to finish instead of the mascarpone I typically use. I look forward to enjoying cooking many more of the recipes here.!






  9. Oh my gosh this was so yummy! We had guests for dinner last night, and I made this for the first time. Your recipes are so reliably excellent I knew I could trust it to be good. Boy was it! It was both beautiful looking and flawlessly delicious. Thanks so much!

    Oh, also, I used frozen white & yellow corn and it turned out great. Another total keeper!






  10. Really great recipe, thanks for sharing! I had to use bacon in place of Pancetta and it was still great. I also used cauliflower mash in place of polenta.






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