Meal Planning Mondays with Recipe for Seared Turbot with Lentils, Kale, and Salsa Verde

I hope everyone is enjoying a long weekend. David and I are off until Thursday, which is such a treat and almost a necessary respite from the hustle and bustle (and long commute) of the work week for this tiring Mama. We have been spending our weekend going to soccer, visiting a museum with friends, eating yummy food, making a short movie with figurines, building fires, and watching football. And, we are looking forward to a day of skiing and a date day this week! We are hoping to spend our date day catching an early movie (any suggestions???), having lunch, and then going out for dinner and to the Mates of State concert (one of my Christmas presents!)! Here's the dinner menu for the week. I hope it inspires good meals at your tables.

Dinner Menu, Week of January 19th: (We have a standing Friday night pizza dinner while Jack plays soccer and on Saturdays we get take-out or go out, so these days will be skipped in the dinner planning.)

Monday: Sautéed eggplant, zucchini, and mushrooms in olive oil over linguine; meatless meatballs in marinara sauce Tuesday: Pinto bean, mushroom, and spinach quesadillas Wednesday: Crab cakes; arugula, carrot, and radish salad Thursday: Black-eyed peas with crispy bacon; sweet potatoes Sunday: Seared Turbot with Lentils, Kale, and Salsa Verde (see recipe below); rice

Seared Turbot with Lentils, Kale, and Salsa Verde Ingredients 3/4 c uncooked rice 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 large bunch of kale, cleaned, stems removed, and cut into bite sized pieces 3 3. 5 oz. pieces of turbot filets salt and pepper 1 cup cooked lentils ( we used a canned lentils for this, but almost always have a package of already cooked, fresh lentils in our refrigerator) Crumbled feta cheese salsa verde to serve

Preparation Cook rice while everything else is cooking.

Heat a large sauté pan over medium high heat, add 1 tablespoon olive oil, then add cut kale and a pinch of salt. Sauté for just a minute, or until the kale has wilted, then add lentils. Turn down the heat and cook until the lentils are warmed through.

While the lentils are warming, prepare the pan to cook the turbot. Heat a large sauté pan over medium high heat, season the fish with salt and pepper and drizzle with the remaining tablespoon of olive oil.

When the pan is hot but not smoking, add the turbot and cook for about 4 minutes on the first side, then flip and cook for 2 to 3 more minutes. Cook time will vary depending on the thickness of your fish—just make sure you get a good sear on the first side, and remove from the pan when it feels firm and bounces back when poked.

Plate rice, then top with lentils and kale, then turbot, sprinkle feta, and drizzle with salsa verde.

Recipe adapted from Goop

Happy Eating!