Halibut is a fairly firm white fish that will accept a marinade well. The adobo marinade used in this recipe is really a wet rub. The spices complement the citrus acid well. With each bite, you will taste the sweetness of the fish along with the garlic, cilantro and citrus juices.
YIELD: 8 SERVINGS • COOK TIME: 12 MINUTES
ADOBO MARINADE
¾ cup (177 ml) lime juice
¾ cup (177 ml) orange juice
2 tbsp (30 ml) extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbsp (20 g) chopped garlic
1 tbsp (3 g) chopped fresh cilantro
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp kosher salt
½ tsp black pepper
½ tsp dried oregano
2 lb (907 g) halibut fillets
2 tbsp (30 ml) olive oil
1 tsp kosher salt
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
CORN, BLACK BEAN AND TOMATO SALSA
2 ears fresh corn, husked
1 tbsp (15 ml) olive oil
3 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 cup (194 g) canned black beans, drained
¼ cup (38 g) chopped red onion
¼ cup (60 ml) lime juice
⅓ cup (16 g) chopped fresh cilantro
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1 scallion, chopped
½ tsp kosher salt
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
To make the marinade, in a medium bowl, whisk all the marinade ingredients together until they are well combined. Place the halibut fillets into a resealable plastic freezer bag with the marinade, and refrigerate for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
Set up your grill for 350°F (177°C) direct heat with a drip pan. Make sure the grate is cleaned and well oiled. Remove the fish from the marinade, pat it dry and lightly coat with olive oil. Sprinkle the fillets with salt and pepper.
Place the fish on the cooking grate and cover the cooker. Grill the fish over direct heat for about 4 minutes; then flip and cook for another 3 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches about 135°F (57°C). When cooked, remove the fish from the grill and place it on a cool rack under an aluminum foil tent. Let the fish rest for 5 to 10 minutes while you prepare the salsa.
To make the salsa, coat the corn with olive oil, place it on the grate and cook over direct heat for about 5 minutes. Turn the corn every minute, and be careful not to burn it! Remove the corn and set it aside to cool. While the corn cools, place the remaining ingredients—plum tomatoes through seasonings—into a bowl. When the corn is cool enough to handle, cut all of the kernels off the ears, place them in the bowl and mix well. Serve the salsa over the cooked halibut.
OPERATION BBQ RELIEF IN ACTION
Packing up our Big Green Eggs, we began the nearly 20-hour drive up the Atlantic Coast from Lynchburg, Tennessee, back home to Bedford, New Hampshire. Hurricane Sandy was practically in the rearview mirror the whole time. We were returning from the site of the Jack Daniel’s World Championship Invitational Barbecue. Forty-five minutes after we crossed from Connecticut into Massachusetts, roads and highways were being closed down except for nonessential vehicles in preparation for Sandy’s landfall.
The Jack is at the end of the year, so it’s sort of the climax of barbecue season for us. There are some things to do still, but after that competition, it’s about relaxing. We never got a chance to relax. We unloaded perishables from the trailer shortly after arriving home on October 27, 2012. Turning on the television the following morning, we saw sea-battering scenes coming in from Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey. We immediately decided to get back on the road.
Working through New England Barbecue Society phone contacts, we learned of an OBR effort being coordinated by Cleveland-based Rob Marion of 2 Worthless Nuts BBQ. That day, we loaded up the truck with needed supplies, stopped to pick up Mike Boisvert and his supplies and began the drive back. By Thursday, we had reached Forked River, New Jersey, a town on Barnegat Bay.
There were 10 miles where it was haunting. There was no power and few gas stations. We had waited 2 hours to top off our gas in a Nyack, New York, rest area and saw gas lines backed up nine-tenths of a mile.
Seeing it firsthand was mind-boggling. We had seen it on TV, but the real thing is very different.
Over the next three days, our OBR group made 3,000 meals per day, some boxed for takeout or served backyard-barbecue style, and more still for bulk deliveries of 400 or 500 at a time, sent out with supplies of water.
By Friday, other mid-Atlantic and Northeast teams streaming in were bringing donations of paper towels and canned goods and being directed to efforts in Hoboken, and later Brooklyn and Coney Island. Yabba Dabba Que! moved on to Neptune Township next, 45 minutes up from Forked River.
Barbecue trucks and trailers usually set up in 20 x 20-foot (6 x 6-m) squares for competitions, and they did the same with OBR, setting up cooking sites in a baseball field and senior centers to be accessible.
There were a lot of local volunteers. A group of kids who had nothing to do came out and helped for a while. We were all doing what we enjoy doing … it’s something more than physically nourishing—it’s a nourishment of the soul. Seeing the people who are affected is the biggest takeaway. An eight-year-old boy who had been eating nothing but peanut butter and jelly said he wished he could give something more substantive, but could only donate a one-dollar bill. We told him to keep it, but he insisted, ate some food and asked to get a spot in line the next day.
—ERIC AND CINDI MITCHELL, Yabba Dabba Que!