Looking for a low-salt Easter dinner idea? Try fish

Fish is a traditional Friday dish for Catholics on Friday during Lent, the 40 days leading up to Easter. Easter Sunday itself is usually reserved for salty main courses, like ham, or fattier ones like lamb. But if you want to avoid high-salt, high-fat meals, why not try fish for an Easter Sunday main course instead?

The New York Times recently ran an easy-to-make recipe for Sheet-Pan Roasted Fish With Sweet Peppers.

You can use hake, cod or flounder as the main ingredient. I’d leave out the salt called for, but include everything else, except look for low-salt olive instead of regular salty ones. Ingredients are:

small bunch fresh lemon or regular thyme
1 ½ pounds hake fillets
½ teaspoon fine sea salt, more as needed [leave this out, who needs it?]
Black pepper
3 large bell peppers, preferably 1 red, 1 orange and 1 yellow, thinly sliced
4 ½ tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, more for drizzling
¼ cup pitted, sliced black or green olives, or use a combination
1 teaspoon sherry vinegar
1 garlic clove, grated
1 cup loosely packed Italian parsley leaves, chopped

Cut the peppers instead strips and lay it on a baking sheet along with the fish. Set the oven to 400. Other steps:

1. Season fish all over with pepper and rub with thyme leaves.
2. Spread peppers on a rimmed sheet pan and toss with 1 1/2 tablespoons oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt and the black pepper. Top peppers with the remaining thyme sprigs. Roast, tossing occasionally, until peppers are softened and golden at the edges, 15 to 20 minutes.
3. Increase oven temperature to 500 degrees. Push peppers to the edges of the pan, clearing a space in the center. Lay fish out on that empty space and drizzle with oil. Scatter olives over the top of fish and peppers. Roast until fish turns opaque and is just cooked through, 6 to 10 minutes.
4. Combine vinegar, garlic and a pinch of salt in a bowl. Whisk in remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil, then whisk in parsley. Taste and add more vinegar if needed. Serve fish and peppers drizzled with vinaigrette.

If white flaky fish doesn’t do it for you, check  my low-salt recipe page for other fish dishes including salmon, scallops and even lobster.