When I was younger eating fish was on par with eating liver and onions. Sorry for all you liver lovers out there but ewwww grossy. Lucky for me, in my old age I have learnt to love Nemo & Friends and it is now a part of my weekly meal rotation. I would still rather eat dirt then liver and onions, and I’m pretty sure that’s going to follow me to the grave, but ya never know… stayed tuned cow crumbs fans it could happen.

But my whole fish aversion actually stemmed from what some might call a traumatic experience. Our family decided to take a little road trip out to Maine, and nothing says family fun like all packing into a van and driving forEVER!!!

But first maybe I should rephrase my whole view on eating fish as a youngster.  I LOVED lobster tails, shrimp and fish and chips, I think that I wasn’t a fan of was seeing the face of the thing I was about to eat before I ate it.

The eye ball looking up, ya not a fan. And I’m pretty sure this could be a consensus across the board for most kids.

 

Don’t get me wrong I like a burger as much as the next guy too, but do you really want to look into the eyes of the cow before you eat it??? Burgers are just born burgers, right?

 

Anyways back to my traumatizing fish story, so one night my family and I are walking along a beautiful board walk, the crisp ocean air in our hair and of course lobster shacks are pretty much on every corner.

But with these types of establishments you get to pick out your own lobster before you eat it. I think you see where this story is going. So my family goes strolling into one of these establishments.

I remember standing there a little confused as my dad picked out his soon to be meal, the woman placed the lobster onto a scale and as she’s putting the transaction through what am I doing??? Naming the lobster of course, because in my eyes this is now my pet.

Faster then I had a chance to comprehend what was about to happen the woman grabs my new pet and into the boiling pot he goes. I wish I could remember the first thought that crossed my mind, but I do remember the first thing that came out of my mouth… I turned to my father (keep in mind this place was packed) and shouted MURDERER!!!!

Needless to say my mother had to quickly intervene and out we went for a little walk while my dad ate my friend. Still to this day I cannot eat a whole lobster and prefer that my food remain face free before I eat.

Wild salmon with grilled fennel, asparagus and peas (face free)

Ingredients:

4 spears of Asparagus (ends trimmed and chopped)

1/4 cup of Peas

3 -4 slices of fennel chopped

Lettuce of choice (I like this salad with Boston Lettuce)

1 Wild salmon filet

1-2 tbsp. of apple cider vinaigrette (recipe below)

This salad recipe is a single serving portion and one of my go to dinners.

Preheat your oven to 400

Super simple for cooking salmon, take a piece of parchment paper and put your salmon right in the middle. Drizzle with oil and season with salt and pepper. Pull the sides of the paper over the fillet, folding several times to seal. Fold and twist the ends to form a rectangular parcel and then place onto a baking sheet. Bake on the lower rack of the over for about 15- 20 minutes.

When there is about 5 minutes left on your oven timer heat up just a little bit of water in a small pan on high heat. Throw in your asparagus and peas. You only want to cook them for a few minutes so the asparagus keep a bit of that crunch.

Toss everything onto your plate; raw fennel, asparagus, peas, and salmon fillet with your lettuce of choice. Top with apple cider vinegar et voila…

A face free meal everyone will enjoy.

 

Apple cider vinaigrette

Ingredients

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup walnut oil

2 tbsp. lemon juice

1 tbsp. grainy mustard

1 tbsp. honey

1 green onion chopped

1 clove of garlic chopped

salt and pepper to taste

For the dressing just throw everything into a glass jar and shake it up. You can leave the leftovers in your fridge for at least a week. I find after that it starts to look a bit suspicious, and I try to avoid eating suspicious looking things…