Tequila Lime Fish Tacos with Slaw and Chipotle Mayo

I said I was getting my buns back in the kitchen this week and I wasn't kidding.  The posts are already piling up on me and it's only Wednesday morning!  What good news for you right?  Let's just cross our fingers that I don't get distracted from a new recipe and forget about the ones that I've already done...because I tend to do that...often.



When it comes to Fish Tacos...the options are quite literally endless.

Which makes it an incredibly fun dish to play around with.  You can go in any direction your heart desires.  Haddock, Halibut, Tilapia, Salmon, Cod...Fried, Pan Seared, Grilled...The sauces...The toppings...The combinations could go on and on.

And of course everyone has created the *best* fish taco combination EVER.  So, I'm not going to claim that.  Because their are more than a few that I happen to really love.  --Mango and avocado salsa with salmon, Blackened fish with a creamy sauce of sorts, Perfectly grilled halibut with bean salsa and a healthy dose of avocado spread...Once again the list could go on and on.

But there is definitely a key to this recipe that puts it up on the top of my list.  The red cabbage slaw.  This stuff is the bee's knees.  And I don't use that term lightly.  Luckily you're going to end up with a bit more than needed for your tacos.  So please liberally add it to everything you eat until it disappears.  That's what I've been doing.  And it's heavenly.

Even though I'm in love with the slaw, the fish, sriracha mayo, and marinade aren't far behind.  I especially love the use of the marinade.  It always hurts my heart a little to throw a big bag of delicious marinade away.  In this case there is no need to waste.

Ugh.  Is it lunchtime yet?  My stomach is rumbling at the thought of these things.



Adapted from Use Real Butter via Good Fish by Becky Selengut

Makes: 4 servings
Prep Time: 40 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 55 minutes

{Printable Recipe}

Ingredients:
red cabbage slaw (see below)
tequila lime marinade (see below)
sriracha mayo (see below)
1 lb. flaky white fish, I used Haddock
1 tablespoon high-heat oil
corn or flour tortillas
sliced avocado
extra limes for squeezing

red cabbage slaw:
3/4 lb. red cabbage, shredded (about 4 cups)
1 apple, cored and grated
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
3/4 cup cilantro, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
salt to taste

tequila lime marinade:
1 lime, zest and juice (about 1 teaspoon zest and 2 tablespoons juice)
2 tablespoons tequila
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-2 small jalapenos, halved, seeded, cored, and sliced
1 small red onion, cut into thin half moons
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

sriracha mayo:
1/4 cup mayo
1 teaspoon lime juice
1/2 teaspoon sriracha
1/4 teaspoon cumin

Directions:
To make the slaw- Place the red cabbage in a colander and rinse thoroughly with water.  Squeeze all of the liquid out and let sit in the colander while you mix the other ingredients.  In a large bowl mix the grated apple, mustard seeds, cilantro, apple cider vinegar, and olive oil together.  Give the cabbage another good squeeze and mix in with the rest of the ingredients.  Season the slaw to taste with salt. Set aside.
To make the sriracha mayo- Combine everything in a small bowl and stir with a spoon until combined. Set aside.
To make the marinade- Combine everything in a gallon ziploc bag and mix it all up.
To make the fish- Place the fish in the ziploc bag and seal.  Let the fish sit for 20 minutes.  After 20 minutes, heat 2 tablespoons of oil over high heat in a large pan.  Remove the fish from the marinade and place in the pan.  Cook for about 3-4 minutes on each side until the fish is lightly browned and flaky.  Remove the fish to a plate and add the marinade to the pan.  Cook on high heat for 5-7 minutes or until the liquid has bubbled off and the onions and peppers are charred.
To serve- Warm your tortillas (I like to do it over the open flame on my gas stove) and prepare each taco with a bit of fish, sriracha mayo, avocado slices, charred onions and peppers, and the red cabbage slaw.  And don't forget to serve with lime wedges for squeezing on top!

Stuffed Poblano Peppers

This post looks significantly different than the one that I had written for Monday.

It included a few guilty "I'm sorrys" and an attempt to explain why I haven't posted in almost a month.

And then some pretty horrible things happened in Boston as many of you have probably heard.  I don't want to go into detail about the day but I will say that it was absolutely horrifying.  Watching something horrible happen on TV is bad enough.  But when it's happening in your own back yard?  Words can't describe it.

A lot of people have been quoted saying that the day of the Boston Marathon is one of the greatest days to live in the city of Boston.  And they are absolutely right.  The energy throughout the city is unbelievable even days before the event.  But the day of the race?  There is a sense of community that I had never experienced before moving here.  The entire city + thousands and thousands of tourists come together to cheer on the incredible runners during a day off from school and work, with (usually) some of the first warm weather and sunshine of the year.  How could it get much better than that?  It doesn't.  Not in Boston.  In fact, within the first hour of watching my first Boston Marathon several years ago I decided I had to run the following year for goodness sake.  It looked like the best. time. ever.

That obviously didn't happen.

But it makes the unfortunate things that happened on Monday that much more painful.  I'm upset that something like that could happen on one of the happiest and most high energy days of the year and to people and families that were as wonderful as I can imagine them to be.  I've been thinking about those people for days now and I hope that they can all find a way to recover and be as happy as they were just minutes before their worlds were turned upside down.

These events made me hit the delete button on everything I had previously written for this post.  Life is way too short to feel guilty about not putting up a blog post in a month.  And I shouldn't be saying sorry about being far too busy.  That's a good thing.  I've actually realized that I'm impressed with my discipline to put away the fun things for a while in order to keep my school work at the best level possible.  It's not fun but I'm glad that I'm dedicating my entire self to one (very important) thing for now.  I tend to spread myself quite thin most of the time so it's nice to not be doing that for once.

I hope you can take a minute to think about what is going on around you and what you have going on in your life.  If you're spreading yourself too thin maybe you can let something go for a little while and pick it back up when you have the time to be fully engaged.  Time is too precious to waste.  And don't forget the people in your life.  They are even more precious and life is too unpredictable.  Give them a hug and then make them some food.  Life is too unpredictable to not.  



Adapted from the amazing Smitten Kitchen Cookbook


Makes: 4-6 servings
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes

{Printable Recipe}

Ingredients:  

• 8 large fresh poblano peppers
• 4 cups cooked brown rice (I cheated and used Trader Joe's super easy microwavable rice)
• 1 (12oz) bottle of beer, preferably light or medium in color (I used Sam Adam's Summer)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1/2 cups fresh corn kernels (from about 2 cobs) OR 1 1/2 cups frozen and defrosted kernels
• 3/4 cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup crumbled queso fresco, ricotta salata, or another crumbly cheese
• 3 tablespoons yogurt 
• 1 tablespoon milk
• pinch of salt
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

 

1. Lay several peppers at a time on their sides on the racks atop a gas burner and turn the flame to high.  Using tongs, rotate the peppers frequently until their skins are blistered, about 4-6 minutes each.  Transfer the peppers to a bowl and cover them with foil or plastic wrap. (I've since been told that paper bags are even better for this!)  Repeat with the remaining peppers.
2. If you do not have a gas burner, you can do this under a broiler or skip this step altogether if they pepper skins don't bother you.
3. In a large sauce pan heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add the onion and saute until soft, about 8 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook for 1 more minute.  Add the rice to the pot and stir it for a minute or two.  Pour in the beer, corn, monterey jack cheese, salt, and black pepper.  Let cheese melt and stir for several minutes.  Remove from heat.
4. Preheat the oven to 400°.  Remove the peppers from the bowl and gently rub off the skins.  Cut a slit lengthwise in each pepper and remove the seeds and membranes.  Fill each pepper with the rice mixture and arrange tightly in a baking dish.  Sprinkle with queso fresco and bake for 10-15 minutes, until bronzed on top.
5. While peppers are cooking, whisk together yogurt, milk, and salt. 
6. Remove peppers from the oven.  Drizzle with yogurt mixture and garnish with cilantro.

Fried Chicken

Alright.

I did something that I haven't done in almost a year.

I prepared a meaty dish.

And not just any meaty dish.  It was fried chicken.  Meat.  Fried.  Two things that rarely enter my cooking arsenal these days.



But here's the thing...It was requested.  And I hate not fulfilling food requests.  So they asked for fried chicken...they got fried chicken.  As well as some tater tot/fritter things, gravy and biscuits...go big or go home right?

If you hadn't caught on already, I don't eat meat.  But I couldn't make fried chicken and not try it.  So I did.  And oh my.  It was tender.  And juicy.  And crispy.  And perfectly seasoned.

KFC, move over.

Meat eaters - you should try this.  It's delicious.  And actually really fun.  Who doesn't love frying things?  Non-meat eaters - I hope this doesn't make you salivate too much.



from the Pioneer Woman's Cookbook: Recipes from an Accidental Country Girl

Makes: 6-8 servings
Prep Time: 2 hours 15 minutes (but an overnight buttermilk soak is ideal!)
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Total Time: 3 hours

{Printable Recipe}

Ingredients
2 cup-up fryer chickens
1 quart plus 1/4 cup buttermilk
5 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons seasoned salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
2 teaspoons dried thyme
2 teaspoons old bay seasoning
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup milk
canola or vegetable oil for frying

Directions

1. In a large bowl (or 2 freezer bags) add the chicken with 1 quart buttermilk.  Refrigerate overnight if possible.  (I didn't have this much time so I let it sit on the counter for two hours and it turned out just fine!)  If refrigerating, remove chicken from bowl and let sit on counter for 30 minutes to come to room temperature.
2. Preheat oven to 350°F.
3. Stir together the flour, seasoned salt, pepper, thyme, old bay and cayenne in a very large bowl.  In a small bowl combine the 1/4 cup buttermilk and milk.  Pour milk mixture into flour and use a fork to mix until there are little clumps throughout.
4. Heat 1 1/2 inches of oil in a deep skillet or dutch oven over medium high heat to 365°F.  Working in batches, thoroughly coat each buttermilk-soaked chicken piece with the flour mixture, pressing to adhere the breading.  Add the chicken to the oil 3-4 pieces at a time.  Cover pan and fry 5-7 minutes, checking to make sure the chicken isn't getting too brown.  Turn, cover and cook an additional 3-5 minutes more.  Make sure to periodically check the temperature of the oil to make sure the chicken won't burn.
5. Place chicken on a baking sheet and continue frying the rest of the chicken.  When it is all done, bake the chicken for 10-15 minutes.  Cut into one of the pieces to ensure it is cooked all the way through.

Ginger Shrimp with Rice Noodles

Here's the thing.

I've never heard so many oohs and aahs after serving a dish.



And I say "serving" loosely here.  Because there wasn't really a whole lot of "serving" to this dish.  Here's what happened.  A group full of men were out playing cards.  I was at home making a pie and dinner.  (How domestic of me right?)  I politely informed them that both were done.  They immediately came knocking down the door.  One of them made a bowl, started to eat, became overwhelmed with excitement and insisted that everyone in the vicinity had to eat some.  So the one bowl became one big community bowl.

Based on their reaction I thought they must have been under the influence of extreme hunger or card playing fluids. 

But apparently not.  It's been days now...and they are still talking about it.

So this one knocked it out of the park.



As I mentioned there was also a pie.  A chocolate cream one.  I was going to share it with you.  But during that same feeding frenzy the men attacked the pie forks in hand.  And we aren't talking slices here.  The pie never left the pan.  And within several hours...it was gone.  Needless to say I didn't snap any pictures.  But don't worry.  Based on its success, I'm sure I'll be making that pie again very soon.

And just a little heads up.  I have decided that I'm going to lay off the Meal Plan Monday posts for a while.  I've got a crazy school schedule and a significant amount of traveling in my near future that won't allow me to be cooking at home every night of the week.  But don't completely skip out on Mondays!  I still have some fun things up my sleeve that will be popping up every couple of weeks!



Makes: 4 servings
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes

{Printable Recipe}

Ingredients:
1 lb uncooked shrimp, tails removed
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, minced
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 teaspoon sesame oil
2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon sriracha
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves garlic
1 head of broccoli (steamed)
1/2 red pepper (steamed)
1/2 green pepper (steamed)
1 (12 ounce) package rice noodles
scallions for garnish

Directions:

1. Place a large pot of lightly salted water over high heat and bring to a boil.
2. In a small bowl add soy sauce, fresh ginger, fish sauce, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, sugar, and sriracha mixing until combined.  Set aside.
3. In a large pan heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat and add shrimp.  Cook until pink, about 3-4 minutes, on each side.  Add sauce and turn heat to the lowest possible setting letting the shrimp simmer in the sauce for 3-4 minutes.  Remove from heat and set aside.
4. Once your water is boiling, add noodles and cook according to package directions.  Drain and rinse with cold water.
5. To serve pile noodles, a helping of steamed vegetables (done on the stovetop or in the microwave), several shrimp and a couple spoonfuls of the sauce from the pan into a large bowl.  Garnish with scallions and dig in!