Honeydew Melon & Fennel Salad with Urfa Pepper Mahimahi

Another simple and straight forward recipe for a summer salad and another winner from Cook Beautiful cookbook. I paired it with a smokey urfa pepper and turmeric fish and the meal was fresh, bright, light, healthy and delicious.

This salad is especially helpful if you get a honeydew melon that isn't very ripe. The melon goes well in the salad with all the other tart, bright flavors and adds a nice hint of sweetness. To make sure the salad was the star of the meal, I made a very non-fishy fish by choosing Mahimahi. For fish beginners, Mahimahi or Ono fish is always a good choice. It doesn't smell too fishy and the texture is kind of like chicken, all of which makes it the perfect fish to add some flavor by adding smokey urfa pepper before pan frying or broiling it.
I'll likely be making this salad again before the summer is over. I liked it that much :)

Salad recipe adapted from Cook Beautiful, Athena Calderone
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:
1 medium red onion, sliced
2/3 cup white wine vinegar
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp kosher salt
1/2 honeydew melon, seeds removed, thinly sliced and rind taken off
1 small fennel bulb, cored and thinly sliced (reserve a few fronds)
1 serrano/jalapeno pepper, thinly sliced
8 caper berries, halved
1/4 cup small mint leaves
4 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp sea salt
coarsely ground black pepper
flaky salt

Procedure:
Put the onions in a glass container/bowl and set aside. Heat vinegar, sugar and kosher salt in a small saucepan on medium high till sugar dissolves and the liquid is heated up. Pour this over the onions and let col to room temp. It can now be used straight away or put in the fridge for a few weeks to be used later.
On a large platter, scatter melon slices. Over it scatter half of the pickled onions, fennel slices, jalapeno, caper berries, mint leaves and fennel fronds. In a small bowl, whisk olive oil with 2 tbsp pickling liquid from the onions and add sea salt and whisk to emulsify. Pour this dressing over the salad and grind coarse pepper over it. Scatter a few flaky sea salt grains over top and serve.

Fish recipe, my own
Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:
1 1/4 lb Mahimahi fish, or other firm white fleshed fish like Ono or Halibut - cut into 2" chunks
1 tbsp sunflower oil
3 tbsp urfa pepper
heaping 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
heaping 1/2 tsp sea salt
Lime wedges for serving

Procedure:
Preheat broiler. Toss the fish cubes with oil, urfa, turmeric and salt and mix well with your hands. Thread the fish onto 4 skewers and set it on a foil lined baking pan that can take broiling. Broil for 2 minutes on each side and serve immediately with lime juice sprinkled over it.