Recipe: Grilled Mahi-Mahi on Chopped Salad with Olive Oil and Lemon Vinaigrette

Serves 4

Salad and dressing:

½ cucumber, peeled, seeded and thinly sliced

1 cup marinated artichoke hearts, drained and coarsely chopped

¾ cup finely diced red bell pepper

½ cup paper-thin sliced sweet Walla Walla onion

3 cups thinly shredded iceberg lettuce

2 cups mache or arugula leaves ¼ cup coarsely chopped fresh basil

3 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Mahi-mahi:

1 1/3 pounds mahi-mahi fillet

2 teaspoons olive oil

1/8 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1. To prepare salad and dressing: Prepare cucumber, artichoke hearts, bell pepper, sweet onion, lettuce, mache or arugula and basil. Place in a bowl with the greens on top, cover with a paper towel and refrigerate.

2. Combine lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper in a small jar. Refrigerate until ready to use. Shake before using.

3. To prepare fish: About 15 minutes before cooking, remove fish from refrigerator and cut into serving pieces. Brush olive oil over fish and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

4. There are several ways to cook the fish. One is to preheat the oven to 450 degrees, and at the same time preheat a grill pan on top of the stove over medium-high heat. Line a baking dish that will hold fish without crowding with aluminum foil. Place fish, flesh side down, in the grill pan and cook 2 minutes, or until grill marks are well-browned. Transfer to baking dish, skin-side down, place in oven and finish cooking. Total cooking time should be about 12 minutes per inch of thickness, or until just cooked through.

The fish can also be grilled over hot coals covered with white ash. Preheat grill until very hot; lightly oil grill. Place fish, flesh-side down, on grill and cook 12 minutes per inch of thickness, or until just cooked through. Turn halfway through cooking time. (Or bake fish in a preheated 450-degree oven about 12 minutes per inch of thickness or until cooked through.)

5. When the fish is almost finished, toss salad with most of lemon dressing and divide among plates. Remove fish from oven or grill; cut into large chunks and remove skin. (It should come off easily.) Place fish on top of salad, but don't toss. Drizzle with remaining lemon dressing and serve immediately.

Adapted from "The South Beach Diet Cookbook" by Arthur Agatston, M.D.