(MOM, AVERT YOUR EYES — MANY FISH PHOTOS LIE AHEAD!)
Guys, I’ve been so into fish lately. Roasted salmon salad, tuna with bacon-cauliflower purée, cod foil packs with chile butter. Yes, I will (did) have all of that, please! I think Joey is starting to get worried, because we are not normally fish people and I’ve been putting it on our meal plan week after week. I dunno, I’m not questioning it, I’m just going with it.
Totally unrelated, but it’s recently come to my attention that dressing can make or break a salad and seeing as we eat a lot of salad, I know a good one when I see taste it. So please enjoy this edition of recipe favorites featuring fish AND salad dressing, sometimes together, but mostly separate.
Roasted Salmon with Kale-Quinoa Salad
I was kind of on the fence about this salad but I had no reservations about the salmon or the dressing, because those were both a major hit. A major plus about fish, is that it’s SUPER SIMPLE to make and more often than not, SUPER SIMPLE to clean up. Of all the easy ways to cook it, this olive oil, salt and pepper method was the easiest I’ve ever tried so I was extra surprised at how good it tasted.
Secondly, the All-Purpose Citrus Dressing that goes with the salad is mega-delicious! We used it on a bunch of things besides this salad so not only does it taste incredible, it’s also extremely versatile.
File Under: would drink this. That’s how good this almond butter dressing is. I got sort of really really excited when I realized we had feta AND almond butter at home so we could easily make this salad but as good as the feta is, the dressing is the star of the show. Sometimes you just need a dressing that’s not olive oil/lemon based, ya know? And this is the one you go to in those times.
P.S. Apologies for the horrendous picture. May it speak to how impatient I was to dig straight into lunch.
Halibut Foil Packs with Chile Butter
Pro Tip: it’s totally fine if you eyeballed the butter amount and maybe made a liiitle more than the recipe calls for, because it’s the secret to this amazing dish. We served it over rice, to soak up all of those flavor-packed juices and I stand behind that decision 100%. I wanted to make this again as soon as I finished eating it! Also, we totally used cod instead of halibut because ain’t nobody got time to go searching for halibut and cod is cheaper anyway.
Pretty pleased with myself when I discovered I had Liquid Smoke on hand and thus had everything to make this salad dressing that tastes pretty incredible on its own but causes taste bud exploding levels of deliciousness when paired with goat cheese and roasted butternut squash. I easily dressed eight lunch salads with one batch, so a little goes a long way with this one and I happen to think that’s a GREAT thing!
We made this once a few years ago and I don’t know how or why, but we hadn’t made it since. Well we had leftover pesto (tried this vegan miso one for the first time and was majorly pleased with it!) and parmesan so it seemed like a no-brainer. I took the picture before adding the pesto (because refrigeration had turned it from pretty green to unappealing gray…), but just know it made for the perfect quick and easy Monday night dinner.
It is my very serious and important opinion that you should have a go-to vinaigrette in your cooking arsenal. For quick side salads (with croutons and shaved parm) or lunch salads that you love everything about EXCEPT the dressing. Swap it out and problem solved! This is that recipe. Memorize it and you’re good to go for the rest of your life.
P.S. Please note the cherries, the sunshine, the bright beautiful colors of that salad. Ugh, is it summer yet?
Wishing you all a Happy Friday, Perfect Weekending and Sunshine Vibes 🙂
Life as Lauren 
SOLD! I will 100% make that now. I also was never a fish person and then over the last year I’ve started eating it a lot more. I try to do fish one night a week now, especially because it’s really just darn good for us. Putting all of the above into the meal plan.
I am unreasonably excited to go home and cook salmon for dinner tonight, ha!