Halibut

Cooking en papillote means baking something -- fish fillets often -- on a bed of aromatic vegetables in a pouch of parchment or foil. The contents of the pouch steam in their juices, their flavors mixing. We love the romance of en papillote: First, you cut a giant heart from the parchment or foil. Then, when you serve, each diner opens his own personal pouch to get a fragrant poof of steam. Very cool. Robin Mather Jenkins writes for the Chicago Tribune, which provided the recipe analysis.

EVENTS Fundraiser -- Family and Children's Services of Central Maryland will hold a fundraiser featuring a cake competition with both professional and amateur bakers. Cakes will be judged, auctioned and available to taste at 2:30 p.m. April 29 at the Youth Center next to Woods Memorial Church, 617 Baltimore Annapolis Blvd., Severna Park. $12. Tickets can be purchased at the door or by calling 410-571-8341, or e-mailing lgoodman@fcsmd.org. Halibut wine dinner --A five-course wine dinner, prepared by executive chef Benjamin Erjavec, will feature dishes using halibut as the main ingredient at 6:30 p.m. April 27 at the Oceanaire Seafood Room, 801 Aliceanna St. $85. Reservations are required; call 443-872-0000.

Brooke, Josh, and Sheldon remain, splayed out on the sofas and clearly exhausted. Brooke finds a note from Padma telling them to meet her at the Eagle Crest. Is that an Alaskan Leather Bar? I'm excited. They drive up a long mountain and are stopped by a helicopter in the middle of the road. A lady approaches the car and announces she's their pilot and they'll be taking the bird up the rest of the way to meet Padma. Brooke is not cool with this. The helicopter involves three of her biggest fears -- heights, being in an enclosed space, and having no control.

THE DEBATE over blue crab policy in Maryland is ignoring lessons learned by the management of other troubled fisheries. Most economists and academic experts agree that over-fishing problems are rooted in open-access, property-right systems, where one only gains ownership of a fish when it is caught. Any fish left by one fisher is likely to be caught by another. So rather than leaving fish reproduce, the incentive is to harvest the stock before others can. The race to catch fish results in more boats, gear and people than the resource can sustain.

If you're looking for a meaty fish dinner, nothing compares with a thick fish steak. A generously cut fish steak can be cooked on the grill, in the broiler or on top of the stove.Fish steaks offer the satisfying mouth-feel of beef at a fraction of the calories and fat. But even within the fish category, you'll see a wide range in fat content. Albacore tuna is highest, and halibut is lowest among the popular fish choices for steak cuts. You'll notice the difference when you take a bite.Tuna, salmon and swordfish have a sweet taste that does have a hint of fish oil in it. (Relax.

THESE FISH RECIPES are prepared quickly on top of the stove, using just one skillet.The halibut recipe, with a lemon and butter sauce, stays moist and tender because it cooks directly in the sauce. This recipe, from the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute, is easily doubled.To complete the meal, serve the fish over a bed of hot cooked noodles or rice.Halibut and ocean perch, both lean fish, can be substituted for each other. Other substitutions include: cod, flounder, red snapper or swordfish.

Frozen fish fillets, always at the ready in your freezer, are quick to cook, low-calorie and quite nutritious - and if you purchase large packages with 10 or 12 fillets, they are economical as well. (Of course, if there's time, you can stop at the market and buy fresh fillets.) The downside: Alone, they can be bland. But seafood is so easy to dress up. Here, we're topping halibut fillets with a colorful, zesty salsa inspired by one from Robb Walsh's The Tex-Mex Cookbook. Don't be alarmed by the ingredient list: All you do is chop these items and combine them in a bowl.

Menu Roasted Fish With Guacamole, couscous scented with saffron, pan-fried zucchini with garlic, plum sundaes My husband, a college professor who loves to entertain, is always suggesting we invite people over for dinner. "Just keep it simple," he advises. Recently, he unexpectedly proposed that we ask two students for a meal. I was hesitant, but then it came to me: I could anchor the meal with an easy fish dish I had made several times before. It takes only a few minutes to assemble and needs a short time in a hot oven.

Some people take pistachios for granted. We love them sprinkled liberally over ice cream. Shaved over salads. Toasted and chopped for a halibut crust. Packed for some crunch punch in cookies. Sunken like treasure in soups. Dusted with tangy spice rubs. Even straight-up with a drink at the game - they can give peanuts an inferiority complex. Pistachios are native to the Middle East and are likely the oldest cultivated nut tree in history. Archaeological evidence shows traces of pistachios as far back as 7000 B.C. The first commercial pistachio crop was grown in California in 1976 and it produced 1.5 million pounds of nuts.

Brillat-Savarin, the famous 19th century French gastronome, wrote, "the discovery of a new dish does more for human happiness than the discovery of a new star." I agree with this often quoted statement, but I'm tempted to replace the word "dish" with "ingredient." My own culinary creations are often inspired by new, sometimes exotic or foreign items that appear in our groceries. My most recent find has been Spanish Marcona almonds. A year ago, I discovered these delicious almonds in a local supermarket.