Fish Salad with Pickled Baby Corn

About once a week I try to make a sweep through the refrigerator and make dinner out of whatever I find there. We laughingly refer to this as the "Chopped Refrigerator Challenge", after the Food Network show.

I have been obsessed with pickled vegetables lately, ever since I did a quick pickle for banh mi sandwiches last week. I wanted to put something on this salad that had that crunch, pickly taste, and I found I can re-use that pickling mixture over again, so why not !

The fish I chose here is tilapia, because it is easy to find, and we almost always have it in the freezer, but any firm white fish will do.

Fish Salad with Pickled Baby Corn 

First, mix the vinaigrette:
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon pickling liquid from baby corn
1 tablespoon hot Chinese mustard
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons olive oil
Blend together until emulsified. Set aside

For the salad:
2 cups baby spinach leaves, stems removed
2 cups iceburg lettuce shredded
2 radishes thinly sliced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
1/2 small white onion, diced
1 roasted red pepper, diced
1/2 cup pickled baby corn (you can purchase this or make your own, see the venison banh mi recipe for instructions)

For the fish:
2 6 ounce tilapia filets
Orange or lemon pepper
Salt
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil

Arrange the salad ingredients on 2 dinner plates, in the order listed, and drizzle with vinaigrette. Set aside.

In a non-stick pan, melt butter and add olive oil, over medium heat. Season fish on both sides liberally with salt and pepper. Cook 2-3 minutes on each side until golden. Place filet gently on top of salad.