Strawberry, Tomato & Cucumber Salad with Ono Fish Kabab

Another simple meal out of the book Cook Beautiful and another hit. It was originally supposed to be just a salad but I wanted to add some protein to it by including fish. And since the salad dressing made enough to have some leftover, I decided to marinate my fish in it too before broiling it. Brilliant idea, if I do say so myself.

With the protein component taken care of, it was one less thing I had to worry about and the entire meal came together easily. I used some of the best strawberries I could find for the salad and these were amazingly luscious. They were very fragrant and sweet and the resulting salad was all the more better for it because of the extra hit of sweetness they provided. The play of sweet (strawberries & tomatoes) and sour (chèvre) made the salad interesting and made it taste way more than the sum of its parts. I hope you try this simple recipe!

Recipe adapted from Cook Beautiful, Athena Calderone
Makes 4-5 servings

Ingredients:
zest from 2 limes
1/3 cup fresh lime juice
1 tbsp honey
1/2 heaping tsp sea salt
1/4 cup olive oil
3 tbsp chopped tarragon
1 1/4 lb firm white fish like Ono or halibut, cut into 2" chunks
1/3 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp sunflower oil
2 fat garlic cloves, minced
1 pint strawberries, quartered if large and halved if small
1 pint sungold cherry tomatoes, halved
12 ounces serpent cucumbers (or Persian mini cucumbers), cut into 1/2" rounds
3 tbsp very coarsely chopped tarragon
2 tbsp very coarsely chopped mint
4 ounces chèvre
flaky sea salt to sprinkle

Procedure:
First make the lime dressing which will be both salad dressing and act as marinade for the fish. Whisk lime zest, juice, honey, 1/2 tsp sea salt, olive oil and tarragon till well emulsified. Put the fish chunks in a medium bowl and add 1/3 tsp sea salt, sunflower oil and minced garlic and add about a third of the lime dressing. Mix the chunks well carefully getting it evenly distributed but without breaking up the fish. Skewer it onto 5 medium sized skewers (4 chunks to each) and set it aside on a foil lined baking tray. Assemble the salad by tossing together the strawberries, tomatoes and cucumbers. Sprinkle on the herbs and toss lightly. Preheat the broiler for 10 minutes and grill the fish for 2 minutes on each side. Serve with tossed salad and drizzle on about 1 tbsp dressing on each serving and top with chèvre. Sprinkle on flaky sea salt all over the plate generously and serve.