Tuesday’s lunch recipes: fish and the Holy Salad

Because my FB friends rock, I decided to post my daily meals here. Thanks so much to everyone who shared recipes and sauce ideas. You are the BEST!

Today for lunch: salad and fish.

Holly’s Salad (my apologies for the totally uncreative name, but anyone who’s ever been invited to dinner has met up with this salad).

Background: back when I hated to cook (yes, that has changed as of late), I still loved making salads. I love putting them together, and I absolutely worship the dressing I make.

Salad ingredients, which can vary depending on what I’ve got in the fridge and what season we’re in: lettuce, mushrooms (always fresh), cherry tomatoes, Granny Smith apples, capers, black olives, green onion, crushed nuts, bell peppers (yellow and red are my favorites), cucumber, and blueberries. Salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, and mixed sesame seeds go in at the end. That’s what’s in today’s salad, except it’s winter so there are only red bell peppers. Add goat cheese or Roquefort if you can eat dairy.

Dressing: olive oil, balsamic vinegar, oregano, that French mustard with the seeds in it, Mayoliva (this is an olive-based mayonnaise I add to thicken it a little), crushed red pepper, and salt and regular pepper. Whisk it all together and toss it into the salad.

I always keep a mix of white, black, and brownish sesame seeds in a big Tupperware container to add into just about everything: sauces, salads, etc. They have a ton of calcium, in addition to: lecithin, iron, potassium, zinc, phosphorus, magnesium, copper, and vitamins B and E. Betcha didn’t know that. Sesame seeds ROCK.

Today’s fish is cooked in the following sauce:

I browned yellow onion, added garlic and then some green onion because I just can’t resist adding green onion into just about everything I make. Then I chopped up and tossed in: fresh mushrooms, fresh tomato, zucchini, squash, and eggplant. At some point, salt, pepper, sesame seeds, and crushed red pepper made their way into the pot. Then I added tomato sauce, because in my opinion the fresh tomatoes just aren’t good enough to make a great sauce this time of year. Don’t forget it’s the middle of winter down here.

Hope this is of use to someone out there. I’ll update later with the results. Thanks again!!

Post lunch update: total success. The fish came out great, and I will try that recipe again! My only regret: not adding red wine to the sauce. It would have been a great addition.

Crucial Holy Salad update: I totally forgot yellow raisins! They’re called “blonde” raisins here. Also…I just found some spectacular arugula sprouts in the health food store this afternoon. They’re in tonight’s salad!