Pan Fried Wild Arctic Char with Asparagus and Three-Bean Salad

Like everyone else in the city, I'm ready for spring to stop putzing around and arrive already. Every time I think I'm going to get the ol' grill out, we get hit with another cold snap. When my sister-in-law came over to use my copy of TurboTax last Wednesday, I had visions of cooking a meal like the main course I served my mother on her birthday last July but Mother Nature had other plans. Desperate for food with a char (no pun intended), I pulled the grill pan out and flooded our apartment with smoke.

The meal was really straightforward but it still took me about an hour to prepare. For the bean salad, I grilled a few ears of corn and some red peppers and combined them with diced red onion, vine-ripened tomatoes and canned cannellini, black and garbanzo beans, over which I drizzled olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Once the salad was finished, I threw the asparagus in the grill pan and pan fried the arctic char. Once the fish was cooked, I threw together a simple white wine sauce with oso onion, garlic, lemon and butter. I used too much onion and garlic so the "sauce" came out a little chunky but it was still a tasty topping for the fish.