This is an old Ina Garten recipe that’s a favorite of mine. I haven’t made it in a good long while, and I seem to have lost the recipe. I have so many Barefoot Contessa/Ina Garten cookbooks I wouldn’t know where my tattered photocopy came from. Luckily, a little googling revealed that Food & Wine had it online. Do you know how old this recipe is? Look at that first ingredient. She doesn’t even instruct us to use good olive oil.

This is really a summer recipe, because of the grill, but there are ways to grill without a grill, or using a countertop grill, and it works well in winter, too. Or you could bake the halibut, or poach it.

As is this recipe supposedly serves 8 but I usually got 4 to 6 servings out of it, depending on who was joining us for dinner. We have a very short friend who is in his 70s and I doubt weighs more than 100 pounds but don’t be fooled. He can pack it away, and he would do serious damage to this. He’s also French, originally, so for him I make hearty old Gallic favorites instead and lay in even more wine than usual.

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil plus more for brushing
• 2 cups finely chopped onions
• 2 cups chopped fennel
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• Two 28-ounce cans Italian plum tomatoes, drained
• Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 1/4 cup chicken stock or canned low-sodium broth
• 1/4 cup capers, drained and coarsely chopped
• 1 cup coarsely chopped basil, plus small leaves for garnish
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 8 skinless halibut fillets (6 to 7 ounces each), about 1 inch thick

Directions

1. In a large deep skillet, heat 1/3 cup of olive oil. Add the onions and fennel and cook over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 10 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
2. Add the tomatoes to the skillet and break them up with a fork. Season with salt and pepper and cook over low heat until most of the liquid has evaporated, 15 to 20 minutes. Add the wine, stock and capers and cook over low heat for 10 minutes. Stir the chopped basil and the butter into the sauce.
3. Light a grill. Brush the halibut fillets with olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper. Grill over high heat until just cooked through, about 4 minutes per side. Spoon the sauce onto a large deep platter, set the fillets on the sauce and garnish with basil leaves. Serve hot or at room temperature.