Sheet Pan Steelhead Trout & A Quick Salad
on the menu (vol. 3)
Hi everyone!
Our local farmer’s market is finally open for summer and all of us are thrilled. My oldest daughter celebrated with one of her favorite market snacks, new pickle on a stick. (Here’s my recipe inspired by it.)
We stocked up on our usuals: steak and chicken wings from Cotton Cattle Co.; olives, pickled onions, and sauerkraut from Pickle Licious; and I spotted two big flower bushes for our balcony from Stony Hill Farms. And I’m pleasantly surprised by how good the tomatoes look already! They can be hit or miss this early in the year, but the ones I got were so delicious that they made their way onto the menu this week. I filled my bag with a green cabbage on our way out just because it looked so inviting.
Our market bounty inspired the menu for this week. It really highlights how I eat, with lots of bright flavors, fresh herbs, and seasonal produce.
Here’s what’s on the menu for paid subscribers:
These are the perfect meals to keep in your repertoire all summer long, ideal for easy weeknight meals and when you want to feed a crowd. I paired the herby salad with steak and grilled veggies (zucchini and eggplant), but you could keep things indoors with a simple seared ribeye, the sheet pan fish, or marinated chicken. What other protein recipes would you be interested in? We’re talking about it in the chat!
For all the tools I used for today’s recipes, head over to my LTK shop.
Quick Greek Salad
This is one of those salads you’ll dream of 8 (or more!) months out of the year while waiting for juicy summer tomatoes to come back into season. Everything is coarsely chopped so it only takes a few minutes to make, but you’ll be soaking up the compliments way longer.
Ingredients
1 pint cherry tomatoes (I really like tomatoes on the vine for this too—at Whole Foods you can find good ones this time of year)
2 mini cucumbers
2-3 sweet peppers
Fresh oregano (or dried), chopped
4 scallions, chopped
2 oz. feta, cut into small pieces
Juice of ½ lemon
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
½ teaspoon salt
Black pepper
Directions
Cut the tomatoes in half or in quarters so they’re all about the same size. Add them to a large bowl.
Cut the cukes into quarters, then chop them into 3/4” pieces. Cut the peppers to be about the same size as the tomatoes and add both to the bowl.
Add the oregano, scallions, and feta to the bowl.
Squeeze the lemon juice over the vegetables, then add the olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt, and pepper. Stir well to get everything evenly coated in dressing and adjust seasonings to taste.
Serve as a side, stuff it in a pita, or enjoy with cottage cheese on toast.
Any fresh herbs would be great in this. I love fresh oregano (which I grow on my roof), but if that’s hard to find, use your favorite leafy herbs—cilantro, parsley, dill, basil, and chives would all be great.
If you don’t want to buy a whole bag of sweet peppers, add 1-2 bell peppers instead (yellow and orange would make an eye-catching color combo).
Use goat cheese, mozzarella, or another soft cheese instead of Feta. Or leave it out to make it vegan!
Sheet Pan Steelhead Trout with Roasted Veggies
Whenever I’m at the Union Square market, I pick up a filet of trout from Hudson Valley. It cooks up perfectly on a sheet pan, and by adding a few veggies (that I also pick up at the market), it becomes an easy dinner that everyone in the family will at least eat part of.
Ingredients
1 lb. steelhead trout
1/2 lb. shiitake mushrooms
1/2 lb. asparagus, trimmed
1 zucchini, trimmed and cut into half-moons
1/2 lb. green or yellow string beans
About 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons salt, divided, plus more to taste
3/4 teaspoon black pepper, divided
Juice of 1 lemon, divided
Greens, for serving
Directions
Preheat the oven to 450°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Pat the fish dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Squeeze half a lemon over it (about 2 teaspoons juice) and add a drizzle of olive oil (about a teaspoon). Use your hands to rub the oil in then place the fish on the middle of the prepared baking sheet.
Add the veggies to each corner of the baking sheet (I like to keep them separate in case anything ends up needing a different cooking time). Drizzle each veg with olive oil (about a teaspoon or two for each, it just needs to be coated, not doused) and use your hands to toss them together. Season all of them with salt and pepper, about 1/4 teaspoon salt and a few turns of black pepper for each.
Bake for 20 minutes, or until the fish flakes easily but isn’t too tough. If you have a thermometer, it should read 145°F at the thickest part. And the veggies should be golden!
Remove the pan from the oven and squeeze a lemon cheek over the pan. Serve over a bed of greens.
You can use salmon, cod, or another variation of trout for this recipe. Use whatever’s easiest for you to find or local to you!
All of the vegetables are interchangeable, as well. If you don’t like one of two of those listed, you could swap them with shaved Brussels sprouts, summer squash, or double up others on the pan. If cooked vegetables just aren’t your thing, serve the fish over a salad (like the one below). It would pair so well with the fresh herbs.
I served mine over greens, but adding white or brown rice would quickly turn this into a meal my kids would eat.
A Big Herby Salad
This is the perfect refreshing salad to serve with a juicy steak—the crunchy, bright flavors balance the richness of the meat. You could also serve it with the fish above, or with marinated tofu for the same depth of flavor.
Ingredients
1/2 head green cabbage
3-4 bunches baby bok choy
1 bunch large arugula
1 bulb fennel, fronds and core removed
2-3 mini cucumbers
1 bunch parsley
1 bunch dill
1 small bunch chives (should be about 1/4 cup once it’s chopped)
5-6 scallions
Juice of 2 lemons
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon white vinegar
2 garlic cloves, grated with a Microplane
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
Directions
Make sure all your produce is washed before starting. (A salad spinner will help maintain your sanity.)
Finely chop the cabbage, bok choy, arugula, fennel, and cucumbers and add them to a large bowl.
Twist the stems off the parsley and dill and finely chop the leafy tops and the chives. Add the chopped herbs to the bowl.
Trim the scallions and cut them thinly on a slight bias, then add them to the bowl.
Squeeze the lemon juice directly over the veggies, then pour in the olive oil and white vinegar. Add the garlic, pepper, and salt, then mix really well to get everything combined.
If you want to go ahead and just use 1 head of cabbage, leave out the bok choy.
If you can’t find large arugula, use baby arugula or a bunch of spinach. The opposite is true for the bok choy—if you can’t find baby, use 1 regular (adult) bok choy. (You get it—the mini cukes can easily be replaced by larger English cucumbers! Those tend to be seedier, so you may want to remove some of the seeds in the middle.)
If you don’t like fennel, just leave it out. To get the same crunchy texture, you can swap celery in its place, but you don’t have to. There’s already a lot of veg here!
