Blackened Halibut with Trader Joe's Seasoning Salt Potato Wedges & Spinach

While at Wabash Seafood Company picking up this grouper, they sold me on the Halibut. Since I had already wanted to try my friends blackening recipe I figured Halibut would be a good choice. I served it up with another family friend's inspired potato recipe and simply wilted spinach for a super flavorful meal. Some backstory on the potatoes...Most weekends during the summer we head up to my husband's family's lake house near Wisconsin which his aunt owns. It's usually a full house of cousins, aunts, uncles, and family friends. One friend, in particular, is a wiz at the grill and she has these famous potatoes we even named after her! They're super simple - you basically peel the potato, cut into wedges, roll in melted butter, season with Lawry's and bake until golden.

Of course for this ol' blog and for the every day cooking that I do, I wanted to do a slightlyyyyy healthier version so I opted for oil and Trader Joe's new Seasoning Salt which only contains the following ingredients: Granulated Onion, Granulated Garlic, Sea Salt, Celery Seed, Paprika, Ground Nutmeg, Dry Mustard. I mean as far as seasoning salt's go that is a super clean list - no added chemicals, no sugar, no MSGs. All the flavor.

What I used:

  • 2 halibut fillets
  • Blackening Season Mix (see below)
  • 1 Bag spinach
  • 2 baking potatoes
  • Grape Seed Oil
  • Trader Joe's Seasoning Salt

For the blackening mix:

  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1/2 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1/4 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil (I didn't use this)

How to:

  1. Mix all of the blackening ingredients together (except the coconut oil which you'll cook your fish in, optional as I used grape seed oil). Coat your fish filets in the seasoning and then sear in a hot pan with oil until golden on each side. Pop in the oven on a baking sheet at 400 for about 10 minutes to finish cooking all the way through.
  2. For the spinach, sauté over high/medium heat with oil & lemon until lightly wilted. Turn off the heat and let them settle.
  3. For the potatoes, peel the skin and slice into wedges. Coat in olive oil (I added them to a bowl and tossed with my hands in oil). Then lay them out on a baking sheet and sprinkle liberally with the seasoning salt. Bake at 350 for about 1 hour until golden. Or crank up the heat to 400 to cook for about 45 minutes.

For more fish recipes check out this Sea2Table Sustainable Cod Dinner  plus my favorite classic Pan Seared Caper Salmon