With springtime upon us and the weather turning nice, something light and fresh just seemed like the right thing to do.  I tried all day to think of what would be the perfect fit, and then a friend suggested fish tacos.  Perfect!  Not only does that sound great, but I’ve never made it before.  Good food and a learning experience?  Count me in.  But, what fish to use?  After a bit of poking around the internet, I discovered that there are several options for this dish.  Mostly flaky white fish like cod, talapia, red snapper, orange roughy, and halibut.  I decided to use red snapper, but I was unable to locate any and ended up using halibut instead.  Sometimes living 2000 miles from the ocean has its drawbacks.  In the end, this dish came out great.  Its a modified mish mash of several recipes that ran across during my research.  Its simple, fast, and remarkably tasty.  Fish tacos, you are my new friend :)

Ingredients:

main

3 LB halibut filet
1/2 head red cabbage, shredded
10 6 inch corn tortillas

marinade

2 T olive oil
1 small handful fresh cilantro
1 T fresh lime juice
1 T fresh dill
2 t fresh cracked black pepper
2 t sea salt
1 t cumin
1 t cayenne
1 t paprika

crema sauce

1/4 C Mayo
1/4 C sour cream
1/4 C plain yogurt
2 T fresh chopped cilantro
1 T fresh chopped dill
1 T fresh chopped green onions
1 T jalapeno juice
1 T lime juice
1 t garlic

Method:

Start by combining all the ingredients for the marinade in a food processor.  Spin on high until it all becomes a pourable liquid, then add it, along with the fish, to a plastic zip top bag.  Mix it all up a bit to make sure the fish is coated, then place the bag in the fridge for 1 hour.  If you are short on time, you can skip this marination step, but the result will be slightly bland fish.

While the fish is marinating, combine all the ingredients for the crema sauce in a mixing bowl and stir gently to combine.  Its hard to describe the consistency you are looking for here.  It should be thick enough to stick to a spoon, but thin enough to easily apply to the tacos.  Its one of those “you’ll know it when you see it” things.  To thin it, add water 1 tablespoon at a time, and use mayo to thicken.  You are looking for a tangy semi-sour taste, similar to tartar sauce.

After an hour, pull the fish out of the marinade and place it skin side down on a piece of foil.  Pour the marinade over the fish, cover with another piece of foil and seal the edges.  Place the sealed package on a baking sheet, and toss into a 350 degree oven for 7 minutes.  Once that time is up, pull the fish out, remove the top piece of foil and place under the broiler for another 3 minutes.  This last step helps crisp up the edges of the fish and slightly caramelizes the marinade.  It adds a bit of color and texture to the taco.  When done, the fish should flake easily away from the skin.

Warm the tortillas by wrapping in a damp paper towel and microwaving for 30 seconds.  Assemble yourself a taco by placing a good bit of fish into a folded tortilla, add some of the crema sauce, then top with the shredded cabbge.  Thats it.  Go eat some tacos!

enjoy :)
-E

1 package rice skins/wrappers
3 cups shredded Red lettuce, Boston lettuce, baby spinach, or other greens
¼ lb. shredded pork loin or slice steamed shrimp (the smaller the shrimp the better)
¾ cup sliced scallions
¾ cup bean sprouts
½ cup thinly sliced shitake mushrooms
½ cup fresh mint leaf
½ mango thinly sliced

Pork should be cooked in acidic bath (equal parts water, and rice vinegar or lime juice) with ginger, garlic, Asian hot sauce (such as sriracha). Cook until meat falls apart/shreds a la pulled pork.

Shrimp should be lightly steamed; careful not to over cook. If shrimp have shell, peel after cooking. It is much easier. Slice shrimp in half so they lie flat.

Wrappers should be dipped in hot water, for NO MORE THAN 10 seconds. These bastards require a bit of practice to handle.

Lie wrapper on a flat surface, non-stick if possible. Add a single layer of meat about two inches long in the middle of the rice wrapper. Add a liberal amount of greens, and a conservative amount of everything else. Wrap up tightly, as you would a burrito. Repeat.

This should make about 5 – 8 rolls, and can easily be made vegetarian. They are deceptively filling. Serve with hoisin, peanut sauce, or sweet, sour, and hot sauce.

Hoisin Roll Sauce
2 Tbsp. hoisin sauce
1 Tbsp. rice vinegar
Sriracha, or chili garlic sauce to taste
1 ½ tsp. chopped peanuts

Peanut Sauce
2 Tbsp. chunky peanut butter
¼ cup of rice wine (sake or mirin)
2 tsp. soy sauce
2 tsp. or more of rice vinegar
1 ½ tsp of Asian garlic chili sauce

Heat over water (otherwise the oil separates out and that is kinda gross) until well mixed and thick.

Sweet, Sour, and Hot Sauce
Mix ½ cup of rice vinegar, 2 Tbsp. sugar, 1 tsp of garlic chili sauce.

I friggin LOVE curry! Love it love it loooove it. I just discovered curry about a year and a half ago, and man I wish I had tried it sooner. From the very first bite, I was hooked. Curry dishes have a unique flavor and richness to them that can be found nowhere else. They can be spicy, sweet, subtle, pretty much anything you want them to be. I created this dish after falling in love with the panang chicken at the local Thai Place Restaurant. After my first trip to that place, I came home and started looking around the internet for information on Thai cuisine. After a few attempts and a bit of tinkering, I came up with this Chicken and Shrimp in a Red Curry sauce. Its by no means a traditional Thai dish, but I think its still pretty tasty. Try it out for yourself and see what you think. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Ingredients:
1 can (13.5 fl. oz.) coconut milk
2 t red curry paste
1/4 cup fish sauce
3 cloves garlic, crushed
3 sweet dwarf bell peppers, julienned
2 inches of Fresh ginger root finely julienned
1 chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
10-12 small shrimp
2 T sugar
small bunch of fresh mint, rough chopped
small bunch of purple basil, rough chopped
1 t Black pepper
1 t ground cumin
1 t chili powder
1/2 t ground cayenne
1 cup jasmine rice

First, lets start the rice. Since it needs to cook for 10 minutes then simmer/rest for 20 more, starting the rice first should allow us to finish both parts of this dish at roughly the same time. To be perfectly honest, I suck at making rice. So much so that I’m not even going to begin to give you directions on this. Just follow the directions on the box. So, get that going, then lets move on to the fun part.

For the curry portion of the meal, start by placing a 2 qt. saucepan over medium heat. Pour in half of the coconut milk and add the curry paste. Mix well and make sure all the curry paste is broken up and dissolved in the coconut milk. No lumps! (a fork works well here) Allow the mixture to heat up, stirring pretty regularly. Once the mix is hot, add the rest of the coconut milk, fish sauce, garlic, peppers, ginger, sugar, black pepper, cumin, chili powder, cayenne, and chicken. Cook for 8-10 minutes or until chicken is almost done. Add the shrimp, mint and basil. Mix everything together really well, then cover and let simmer for about 5-7 minutes.

Its pretty important to taste this often as you cook it. The coconut milk is pretty sweet, and the curry has a certain musky quality, and the fish sauce brings a lot of saltiness to it (seriously, look at the nutrition facts on the bottle!). It can be hard to balance everything and get the flavor you are after. Don’t add all the sugar right away, start with half then taste to see where you are at and decide if you want to use the second tablespoon. There is no “right” or “correct” taste, its whatever you like personally. If you notice it getting to salty or too spicy, add more sugar one teaspoon at a time and taste again. If its too sweet add salt a pinch at a time (or more curry if you are feeling frisky) and taste again. Make sure to stir well after adding any balancing ingredient, and wait about a minute before tasting to allow the addition to take full effect.

To serve, place some rice into a deep bowl and ladle the curry mix on top. Make sure to get lots of liquid into the bowl, the rice will soak up a lot. Garnish with a pinch of fresh cilantro and serve hot.

Enjoy :)
-E