Halibut with Cocoa

In our show about chocolate, we traveled to St. Lucia in the Caribbean to pick up fresh cocoa beans and to find inspiration for this dish. Fish and cocoa are an unusual combination, but it works out better than you would think - the cocoa is used as a spice, with no sweetness involved.

INGREDIENTS:

Number of servings

Serves 4

List of ingredients

Four ⅓ pound (150 g) halibut filets

1 lb. (450 g) carrots, peeled and boiled

1 ½ lb. (700 g) potatoes, peeled and boiled

½ cup (1 dl) milk

1 small red cabbage (about 1 pound or 450 g), finely cut

2 tbs. cocoa butter

4 tbs. cocoa beans, crushed, or 1-2 tbs. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 orange

3 tbs. butter

1 tbs. apple cider vinegar

½ tsp. sugar

Salt

Pepper

PREPARATION:

• Mash the boiled potatoes. Boil the milk and 2 tablespoons of butter and fold in the mashed potatoes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

• Place the boiled carrots into a beaker with 1 tablespoon of butter and blend together using a hand blender until you obtain an even mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste.

• Salt the halibut filets well. Season the filets with the cocoa beans and pepper. Fry the filets in the cocoa butter for 3 minutes in a frying pan over a high heat with the skin side facing down. Then fry the filets on the other side for 2 minutes. The filets will be ready when their core reaches a temperature of around 118 Fahrenheit (48 Celsius) for perfectly cooked but still quite rare.

• Prepare a simple cabbage salad: fry the red cabbage pieces in the fish juice along with the vinegar, sugar and the juice of half an orange. Add salt and pepper to taste.