Citrus and Mackerel Salad with Crispy Naan

A Particularly Excellent Main Course Salad.

A few explanations are in order here. Please bear with me. A few years ago I was in the mood for a fattoush salad, the Middle Eastern bread salad typically made with pita, but I didn’t have pita. Instead, I substituted naan (Indian flatbread). After tearing it up, tossing it with olive oil, some seasonings (salt, pepper, and black sesame seeds * for this salad), and baking it, I ended up with the most crisp and delicate pieces of bread I’ve ever tasted. Since then, naan has become my first choice for these types of salads. I make big batches of naan and keep them in my freezer, but even grocery store bought naan works well. You can treat pita the same way and still have a very good salad, but naan is my favorite bread to use.

Now, let’s talk about tinned mackerel. Ever since I started buying it a few years ago I’ve grown to love it more and more. It’s much milder than sardines or even tuna. If you buy a good sustainable brand, packed in olive oil, it is superb – rich and meaty. I always keep a couple of tins on hand for adding to salads of all kinds. It is the perfect addition to a salad that you want to turn into a main course.

Anyone who’s been following along with my cooking already knows how much I love oranges and both blood and cara caras are in this salad, but you could use any kind of orange. In the summer months this would also be delicious with fresh peaches, nectarines, or plums. 

I couldn’t decide on a creamy dressing or a vinaigrette. I thought both would be delicious. I wanted a nice tart dressing, but knew that something creamy would be welcome with all the bright flavors. So, I made up a dressing of olive oil, apple cider vinegar, pomegranate molasses, and ground sumac .* It really packed a punch and was just perfect.

So, what to do about that creaminess I wanted? Well, I stirred together plain Greek yogurt with tahini, finely grated zest from a blood orange, and a touch of both apple cider vinegar and maple syrup. Oh, boy, now we were talking. 

I spread the yogurt sauce on a big platter. Then I stirred the dressing into chunks of oranges, a chopped head of heart of romaine lettuce, plenty of sliced scallions, fresh parsley leaves, and the baked naan shards. All of this went on top of the yogurt sauce, along with the mackerel, and a healthy dose of Aleppo pepper .* I couldn’t resist adding pomegranate arils on top of everything. Besides being so pretty, they perk up anything to which they’re added and were delicious on the salad.

Now, I want you to think about what we have going on here. You eat this by scooping up some of the yogurt sauce with every serving. The sauce stays nice and thick. It doesn’t get watered down by the salad. So you get a bite of milky tahini flavor, along with all the crunchy lettuce and scallions, the juicy oranges, and the richly flavored mackerel. The tart dressing delivers acid and brightness. Then, the real icing on the cake are all those pieces of crisped naan, not to mention the pops of flavor from the pomegranate arils. I could eat this over and over and over again without ever getting tired of it. In fact, there are only 3 of us here and we polished off the whole salad for our dinner. 

Once again, I’ve given you a recipe for a salad. And yes, I’ve said over and over again that this is probably my favorite way to eat. But the proof is in the pudding, so to speak. No one would feel they were left wanting anything else after finishing off a plate of this salad. It’s got everything. And this is why I get so excited about this kind of meal. Each bite is different and offers something interesting to your palate. It satisfies on all levels. Try it. You’ll see what I mean. I promise.