Week 30: Clean Eating - Pan-Roasted Swordfish with Arugula, Cucumber, Sweet Corn Salad [Cooking]

Intro from Cooking Challenge: It's week 30 and this week we're eating clean! Many of us have heard of it by now, and while it may be considered a fad, it's one of the more interesting fads to come along. Although the term "clean" seems like a silly way to label this type of eating, it is what it is. And here we are. Basically, clean eating is cooking without any highly processed foods. Lots of fruits and vegetables, more whole grains. You know the drill. Try to stay away from things with artificial colors, flavors, and sweeteners this week, along with anything that is pre-packaged and processed. Of course, not all pre-packaged foods are highly processed, but in general, they most likely are. When in doubt, look at the ingredient list! There is a lot of leeway this week in terms of fitting it into the challenge. If it's not highly processed, it's game. So that means you get to be extra creative this week. So go for it!

As soon as I saw this week's challenge, I knew I wanted to get a bunch of delicious things from my local farmers' market. There's a fantastic fish vendor that I always forget about, so I was psyched to grab an amazing piece of swordfish that had been caught that day. I prepared the fish very simply - salt & pepper on either side, and seared for about 4 minutes in an oven-proof pan of heated oil. After searing one side, I flipped it and put it in the oven at 400F for about 11 minutes (it was a thick cut). After removing the fish from the pan, I melted a half stick of butter with some thyme, minced garlic, grated peel of half a lemon, and peppercorns in the still hot pan, and spooned that over the fish.

For the salad, I just grabbed whatever looked delicious at the farmers market. It ended up being some fresh arugula, one whole cucumber, and raw sweet corn sliced off the cob. I mixed it up with a light homemade lemon vinaigrette.