Spray the grill rack with nonstick spray. Prepare the grill.

Combine the butter, lime zest, cilantro, chipotle pepper, and 1/8 teaspoon of the salt in a small bowl; set aside.

Drizzle the halibut fillets with the lime juice. Sprinkle evenly with the cumin, garlic powder, and remaining 1/8 teaspoon salt. Place the fillets, flesh-side down, on the grill and cook until the halibut is opaque in the center, 5?6 minutes on each side. Top each fillet evenly with the chipotle butter and serve at once. Yields 1 halibut steak and 2 teaspoons chipotle butter per serving.

Notes

Until recently, dried chipotles could only be found in specialty-food stores and usually in their whole form. A ground, dried form is now widely available in jars in the spice section of your supermarket. Leaving the skin on the fish fillets helps hold the fish together while grilling.

Because the lime-chipotle butter works with any number of foods?corn on the cob, chicken breasts or thighs, and filet mignon to name a few?it is great to have on hand. Simply make up a quadruple batch, divide it in fourths, wrap in plastic wrap, and freeze for up to three months.