The island of Gigha lies just to the west of the Mull of Kintyre, some three hours from Glasgow in Scotland. After a long history of underdevelopment, the island was bought by a Trust on behalf of the islanders in 2001. I must confess I had never heard of it until a delivery from our friends at Fish In A Box arrived containing four generously sized halibut fillets ‘from a new farm in Scotland’. The fish was superb, so I decided to find out more about Gigha Halibut.
Halibut has long been considered a prime fish for the table. However, stocks of Atlantic halibut have reached dangerously low levels (unlike the Pacific – in Vancouver Island halibut is served in every fish & chip shop!). There is yet hope for us halibut enthusiasts here though – there are good prospects for farmed halibut off the West coast of Scotland.
Gigha Halibut are connected to Otter Ferry Seafish, the only halibut hatchery in Scotland. Young fish are transferred to facilities based around a former salmon farm on Gigha to mature and grow – a process which takes several years. However, growth rates are good on Gigha, and the halibut is a relatively efficient fish to produce – some 55% of the weight ends up being sold as fillets (compared to 45% for haddock and only 35% for turbot).
I prepared our fillets of Gigha halibut along the lines of a recipe from Legal Seafoods of Boston USA. The halibut was lightly coated with seasoned flour and pan-fried in 1 oz butter and a tablespoon of oil. Meanwhile, I roughly chopped a generous helping of cashew nuts and fried them for 3 minutes in melted butter until they started to brown. Spoon the nut mixture over the fish and serve with blanched asparagus and a little chopped hard-boiled egg. Delicious!
The Gigha Halibut website does not, alas, give information about where to find this fine fish. However, I can reveal at least one source – try Fish In A Box and see if they’re selling it. If my experience is anything to go by, they’ll have trouble keeping up with demand.
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