Lightly Fried Fish Topped with a Warm Italian Salad of Artichokes, Shallots and Capers

For me, one of the great things about cooking is that moment of clarity when I am pondering what to cook for a meal. There are times when I am not feeling the need for one of my proven true recipes. I am looking for something different, yet not wanting to experiment too much beyond what I know how to cook. This is when I start mixing and matching the different recipes and techniques that I know. The result is usually a pairing of components from two different recipes with the results ranging from spectacular to tragic failures.

The other night was one of those scenarios. I was wanting to practice my new found knowledge of lightly frying breaded fish filets in a skillet, but I was at a loss as to what type of sauce or topping should accompany the fish filet? I was not feeling the need for a cream, butter or tomato based sauce, but wanted more then just the fish itself. That is when I thought of the Warm Artichoke, Shallot and Caper Salad that I had made the previous night with Sea Scallops and Vermouth.

The result was definitely a positive experience. The fresh fried fish topped with the warm salad was surprisingly light, full of flavor and did not leave you feeling like you ate a gut bomb. For this dish I added fresh sliced avocados to keep the meal minimally prepared. Overall, this was one of those experiments that will require little in the way of tweaking to perfect the overall experience.

Aside from posting a creation from the kitchen the lesson here is that there are no fast and hard rules of cooking. Yes, the potential for failure is ever present, but the potential for creating a new dish to expand the list of go to meals in your kitchen is far more important then any failures you might experience.