A Quick Summer Meal

As wintertime slowly but surely creeps up on us, all I keep thinking about is summertime and the best things it brings - Cookouts and picnics, beach days, all the day parties..... ahhhhh, and most importantly those amazing and beautiful rays of sun! I know I'm not the only one who gets seasonal depression, and one of the only ways I help myself alleviate that angst is by reminiscing through pictures and videos of the summer months that have just passed. As I was scrolling through my phone today, I came across these pics of a quick lunch plate I made during the summer. It consisted of butter based blue fishaesar" salad, and roasted sweet potatoes.

My dad literally raised me on fish - I remember being a little girl sitting down with these huge pieces on my plate, mashing the meat in between my tiny fingers to check for bones so that I wouldn't choke, just like he taught me to do. Some of my best food memories are around fish - mostly just eating it though because I never had the patience to actually GO fishing and catch anything. My dad used to catch EVERYTHING from blue fish and black fish to flounder, scup, even eel and crabs. He also had a lot of friends that shared the passion of fishing with him. This past summer one of his friends blessed my mom and I with a FAT ASS blue fish. It was about 30 inches long and I swear that thing weighed like 50 pounds. My mom butchered it into steaks and the following day I made this plate. As I was finishing up the first half of my workday, I brainstormed what I wanted for lunch. Of course, it had to be something quick and easy but flavorful and filling. I opted to make this butter based blue fish steak with a "caesar-ish" style grilled kale salad and some air fryer roasted sweet potato fries.

I started with the sweet potato fries first. I peeled and cut my sweet potato and then I tossed it in some EVOO along with spices (although I don't exactly remember which ones I used on this particular day, I'm pretty sure it was somewhat along the lines of garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, paprika and of course salt & pepper).

I lined them in an even layer in my air fryer basket and cooked them at 350f for about 15 minutes, until they were fork tender.

In the meantime, I made my "Caesar" dressing. I tried to do more of a vegan version, using soaked sunflower seeds instead of egg yolks as the base although I still used some anchovy paste and grated parmesan for the umami flavor and cheesiness.

After the dressing was done, I prepped my veggies for my salad. I thinly sliced a radish and sliced a few cherry tomatoes in half. I had some kale that I wanted to use up and the best way I like to consume kale in a salad is by lightly grilling it to soften up the chew. To do this, make sure your kale leaves are washed thoroughly. Warm up a cast iron pan over medium heat, drizzle a touch of oil and place the leaves right in the pan. You might have to do this one at a time depending on the size of your pan. I grill the leaves just for a couple of minutes; It's a very quick process as you don't want to completely wilt your kale, you just want to get them a bit softened I took them off the heat, removed the stems and roughly chopped the leafy part.

I used the same pan to toast some pumpkin seeds for garnish right before I cooked the fish. I kept the pan on the heat, added in another drizzle of oil and then tossed in a handful of raw seeds. I sprinkled a tiny bit of salt and pepper to season them and then shook my pan to stir them around making sure they were in an even layer. They got some color after about 5 minutes of me consistently shaking them around in the pan. This is a KEY step so that they don't burn.

As soon as I took the pepitas out of the pan, I lowered my heat a tiny bit. I grabbed my fish and patted it dry with some paper towel and seasoned both sides with s&p right before I drizzled another touch of oil in my pan and laid my fish right in. As it started to get some color, I threw a couple tablespoons of butter and a few sprigs of thyme into the pan. I flipped the fish and started basting it. Basting is basically a cooking technique where you're scooping and pouring the hot oil directly on top of your protein to help it cook while the fat seeps into it.

As the fish finished cooking through, I mixed my salad - Tossed my greens with the veggies, some of the "Caesar" dressing and a bit of extra shredded parm.

I ended up using a deep blue round plate for this quick lunch to help the colors of my meal pop. This plate came together in about half an hour, and it was absolutely delicious! The salad was refreshing and light - Just acidic enough to counterbalance the fattiness of the fish and the sweetness of the potatoes. The fish was perfectly golden brown and was just so damn fresh I couldn't get enough. The meat was juicy and soft and had a slight nutty profile from the browned butter it was cooked in. I probably ate this plate in about 5 minutes... LOL. This is easily one of my favorite meals to make - Fish with salad and a carb of sorts, most times it being either a roasted potato or tostones. I've since made the dressing a few other times and tweaked it a bit. If y'all are interested in the recipe for this dressing, let me know in the comments!

Till next time - Chef Keyla <3