I had this dinner on Monday night. I made a big green salad, and I put some cucumber that I sliced on the mandolin. And then I had a slaw mix in the fridge, which was purple and normal cabbage. So I mixed that in, and then I crumbled some feta over it. Then I added lots of mint from my garden. So that was already made.

Then I quickly made some potato wedges. I just cut up some potatoes, put them in the air fryer, and then sprinkled some salt and pepper and some rosemary and thyme from my garden. And then I let them go for about 20 minutes.

And then the fish, it was basa, which is a very nice, clean, non-smelly kind of fish. And it doesn't dry out; it's quite a nice, juicy, lean fish. So it was a crunchy salad.

Oh, and I made my own dressing:

• Balsamic vinegar and olive oil
• Some honey
• Some salt and pepper
• A little bit of Dijon mustard

And I make it in a jar, and then I just shake it all up. And that was my dinner.

Basa Is My Weeknight Fish of Choice

This meal is on rotation in our house. So when I see basa, which is every single time I go to a particular shop, I will buy it, and it lasts quite a while. I'll check the expiry date, and then I'll just cook it when it goes in my fridge, basically, and then I will decide, oh okay, we're gonna have fish for dinner.

I always have it with a salad, but my husband needs a starch. So, I make him something like potato wedges, couscous, or mash. The recipe just comes from really wanting to eat fish at least twice a week.

I just try and mix it up with different veggies or starches or salad dressings, that kind of thing. I do mix it up a bit, and then I'll do the fish; we'll put a little bit of a flour situation on there, so it gets a bit of a different texture.

But yeah, I've been making it for a very long time. It is also quite an affordable fish in comparison to the other fish that we have here. The salmon is just too expensive, and Hake is great, so I also buy Hake when I see it. But the basa fish is a real go-to for me.

What Goes On The Plate

The main ingredients here are the basa fillets. I just open them up. They normally come in a double portion. Then I put them on a plate and season them with salt and pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and a bit of spicy mix, which is a ready-made mix.

And then the salad ingredients: it's slaw mix, which is purple and normal cabbage, and then coriander, mint, lettuce, sliced cucumber, feta, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, honey, crushed garlic, and a little bit of mustard. That goes into a jar, and then I make a salad dressing with it.

If I can't find basa, I will use Hake or even tuna, depending on the quality of the tuna. It has to be really good. I'm very fussy when it comes to tuna.

And potato wedges: I always have potatoes in my pantry, and they're also very easy to make.

Wedges First Fish Last

I start by doing the potato wedges in the air fryer, and I normally like to use some kind of bag underneath just to catch all that olive oil. Then I add salt, pepper, lots of thyme, and rosemary, and I let it cook for about 20 minutes in the air fryer at about 180 degrees.

Then I get my fish fillets onto a plate, and I let them come to room temperature. I season them with onion powder, garlic powder, and a spicy mix. Once the potato wedges are done, I will quickly make a green salad, which is just slicing up cucumber on the mandolin. I also slice a red onion on the mandolin, and then I add that to lettuce, which is a pre-packed lettuce that has all sorts of mixed lettuce in it. I like to add purple and normal cabbage to give it a bit of crunch, plus lots of herbs from my garden. So mint, coriander, parsley, whatever I've got going.

Then, when it's about dinner time for us, the wedges are ready, and the salad's made. All I have to do is fry my fish in a frying pan. So I add butter and olive oil, then put them in. It doesn't matter which side because there's no skin on this fish.

Getting Everything Timed Right

My tips for this kind of meal are to get the salad out of the way, make it early on, and I like my salad ingredients to be room temperature. I don't like them to be cold, so I make it and then just set that aside at about six o'clock.

The potato wedges also just need to be out of the way. You can get them done pretty early on. I get them done, I put them in about five o'clock; they take about 20 to 30 minutes, and then you just need to put the air fryer on for another four or five minutes just to heat them and get them crunchy again. Then that's done, and all that's left is the fish.

So when it's dinner time, you just get your pan nice and hot. I like to add some butter and olive oil so the butter doesn't burn; the olive oil stops that from burning.

Cooking the fish: it's about three minutes per side, and it's done. I like to serve it with a big squeeze of fresh lemon. It's very easy to swap the fish for a chicken breast here, which I normally do, or any other fish you've got.

And you don't have to do potato wedges; you can do any kind of starch you feel like. It was just what was on hand that day, and my husband likes them so much.

I don't think I would change anything. I've got this one down to T. Like I said, it's on rotation in my house. I like a green salad. Sometimes I prefer not to have cherry tomatoes or peppers in my salad because, yeah, that's a completely different salad. And my tomatoes have to be hard. I can't stand a soft tomato.

A Family Favorite Over Battered Fish

The whole family ate this. My husband, my son, and I all really enjoy basa fish, and we actually prefer having this over battered fish. It's fresh; there are no hidden preservatives or any funny business. And that's how we typically eat it, so it's always enjoyed in our house.

Why I Pan Fry Instead of Air Fry

I pan-fry this instead of air-frying it because I feel like the butter and oil in a pan give you that seared crust an air fryer won't. So it's worth doing it this way for better texture.

But you can make it in an air fryer and then also use garlic powder. It's not something I do because I really, really enjoy fresh garlic, but garlic powder doesn't burn.

Homemade balsamic vinaigrette- it's so easy to make, and it keeps well, and it's also something with no hidden preservatives. So I'd rather make it myself.

Mint from the garden, I think, does such double duty; it just freshens the whole plate, and it cuts through that richness of the buttery fish. I love mint with everything, though.

Always having a slaw packet in the fridge is such a good idea because it just makes the salad better, and it's just a very wholesome, healthy meal. I really recommend it.

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