Smoked Trout Salad on Toast

say hello to the NEW "tuna salad"

Hi! Welcome to “good mood food” from Kale Me Maybe’s Carina Wolff. If you’ve made it here and aren’t yet a subscriber, come join! You can expect recipes, musings, and faves in your inbox every Wednesday! Paid subscribers get even more! Learn more about my paid membership here. You can also try a week for free!

CATCH UP!

The LA sun finally returned just in time for the summer solstice to arrive, and you bet I hauled my ass to the beach and immediately jumped into the ocean. The water isn’t quite warm yet, but it was so refreshing to dunk my head into the salt water, the sun kissing my skin afterward. Absolute heaven. Swimming, in any body of water really, feels like such a reset on my emotions, and it did put me in such a good mood for the remainder of the week.

I’m really looking forward to our schedule this summer, especially as things are starting to slow down, and I can plant my roots more firmly at home. I’ve decided it’s finally time to get back going on my garden, especially now that it’s tomato season. We have no more weddings until my sister’s in the fall, and although Grant is going back on tour for a few weeks this summer, I do look forward to enjoying our time in California together and not having to go away so often!

Interestingly though, Grant and I have both been itching to go to New York… I always love going back to my old stomping grounds, but… we’ll see, we’ll see.

I’m looking forward to hosting lots of outdoor dinner parties, laying in the sun while reading a good book, harvesting some fresh veggies, lots of swimming in the ocean, and all of the wonderful summer things!!

THINGS I’M LOVING!

This week I was quoted in an article in New York Magazine titled “The 5 Very Best Cooktops!” Apparently, the portable induction cooktop I own is the most popular, which makes sense because it is a good one (albeit loud)! If you’re a content creator, a portable cooktop is useful when you want to shoot wherever has better light. But as noted in the article, it’s also useful if you're on vacation, camping, during a renovation, etc.

I love how many non-alcoholic beverages there are out there, but not all of them taste exactly like how they’re meant. I recently tried a Phony Negroni, and I was shocked at how much it actually tasted like a Negroni! It has a little fizz to it too, so if you’re someone who enjoys Campari or drinks that taste like Aperol Spritzes, this is definitely an NA drink I recommend.

If you’re in LA, I ordered mine from the Feed app! They gave me a code too: CARINA20 can be used for $20 off any first order of $35 or more!

SUMMER IS FINALLY HERE! I took my first dip in the ocean this week, and I also bought a new bathing suit to celebrate the solstice. I found this coffee-colored one piece on Amazon, and I was shocked at how high-quality it felt, and the best part is, it’s made from recycled material!! This shape comes in a few other colors and patterns, including some pretty florals!

RECIPE!

If you’re someone who likes the idea of tuna salad but doesn’t really like how it tastes, I implore you to try this smoked trout salad instead! Think of this version as the more mild, less fishy version of tuna salad.

I wish I could say I came up with this idea on my own, but the inspiration came from a dinner with our friends/Grant’s cousin and his wife. They were discussing how they had recently made a tuna-like salad using smoked trout, and it was much more palatable than most other fish. I’m already such a fan of smoked trout, so I knew I had to try my own version!

To be honest, there is nothing really groundbreaking about this recipe other than the fact that it uses smoked trout instead of tuna. I used typical tuna salad ingredients — celery, onion, mayo — and then added in lots of lemon and herbs. The result is a light, refreshing fish salad that I truly think might convince anyone to like seafood. It’s mild, bright, and fresh, and as someone who loves tuna, I dare to admit it’s actually better than tuna.

You might remember another smoked trout salad I made a while back, but that one was more of a “green salad” vibe while this one is very “tuna salad-y.” Both are delicious — they’re just different!

Smoked Trout Salad on Toast

Ingredients (serves 2)

• 2 slices sourdough bread

• 7 oz smoked trout from a tin

• ¼ cup finely chopped celery

• ¼ cup finely chopped red onion

• 1 tbsp roughly chopped parsley

• 1 tbsp roughly chopped dill

• 1 ½ tbsp mayo

• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard

• Zest of 1/2 lemon

• Juice of 1 lemon

• Salt & pepper

• Crushed red pepper

• 2 small radishes, thinly sliced

1. Toast your sourdough and set it aside.

2. In a large bowl, combine your smoked trout, celery, red onion, parsley, dill, mayo, mustard, lemon zest, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper.

3. Top both of the toasts with your trout mixture and garnish with radish slices. Finish off with a drizzle of olive oil and some more herbs.