Fish Tacos

Last week I made fish tacos with some great trout that my father-in-law caught on one of his frequent fishing trips. It's great having such an outdoorsy father-in-law, especially when you reap the rewards of his hard work. To prepare the fish I cut the fillets into small chunks. I used the Cornmeal Crusted Tilapia coating for the trout and then fried them in a small amount of olive oil over medium heat for no more than 2 minutes per side. If your fish chunks were thicker you would need to increase cooking time. I let the fish nuggets drain on a paper towel while I got the rest of the taco fixings ready. I also chopped up a quick and easy pico de gallo- two plum tomatoes, 1/4 medium red onion, appx. a tablespoon of chopped cilantro, juice of half a lime, and a pinch of coarse salt. This is what I did, but really just eyeballing what's going into the ball and making sure that there is a good ratio of flavors will get you a good result. This was the first time I'd made pico de gallo and it was delicious. We had our fish tacos on warmed corn tortillas, with the pico, shredded green cabbage, and some sour cream. Josh added bit of cheese to his tacos as well. I have some more fish in the freezer and I'm thinking I need to make this meal again very soon.

Cornmeal Crusted Tilapia

That is what our Monday evening looked like, and let me just say that it was even more beautiful in person, not to mention delicious. Please, don't try to nibble on your computer screen, it won't taste as good. it had sadly been awhile since Josh and I sat down together at our own table and ate dinner together. We rarely eat dinner together as it is during the week, since he works late most days. And then we are frequently distracted by the talking boxes and laptop computers. But Monday night I made us the lovely meal above and we sat down and enjoyed it, just the two of us. Well, and David Bowie spinning round on the turntable. I'll fill you in on the guacamole later, this post is about the main course. I bought some frozen tilapia fillets at Target a couple weeks ago and really wanted to use them. These turned out to be great. They thawed easily, were easy to handle, and easy to cook. Definitely going to get these again, I can't imagine how invaluable they could be for last minute meals. Especially this meal which consisted of so few ingredients, it's almost diabolically simple. And let's remember, that's me saying it. The girl who has trouble with almost everything in the kitchen, ha.

Cornmeal Crusted Tilapia
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 4












1/3 cup yellow cornmeal
2 teaspoons paprika
Coarse salt and ground pepper
4 (6-8 oz. each) skinless tilapia fillets
3 tablespoons olive oil

• In a shallow dish, combine cornmeal and paprika; season generously with salt and pepper. Separate fillets into thick and thin sides. Dredge each piece in cornmeal mixture, patting it on to coat completely.
• In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high. Cook as many pieces as will fit (without crowding) until golden brown and firm, about 2 minutes per side for thin pieces and 4 minutes per side for thick ones. Transfer to a plate; sprinkle with salt, if desired, and cover loosely to keep warm. Wipe skillet with a paper towel. Repeat with remaining oil and fish.

My notes: I halved the recipe so I could only prepare enough fish for the two of us, and I still had a little bit of cornmeal mixture leftover. Really, I think it's pretty clear just how easy this recipe is. And it's equally delicious, so give it a shot! I'll be back with a post about the guacamole-love-of-my-life.

I'm No Foodie

I know that my tastes in food are pretty low league. I'd like to think that my palate is starting to grow and expand, but sometimes that just isn't the case. And Tuesday night's dinner just proves that. I'd had my eye on this Mediterranean Tuna-Noodle Casserole from Everyday Food. So I put it on the menu for this week and picked up all the ingredients that I needed on my shopping trip. I'd never done anything with artichoke hearts before, but I wasn't too worried about that. Until I opened the can that is. I just couldn't do it. They smelled atrocious to me, and I just couldn't get past it. I've had recipes before where I thought a particular ingredient was pretty yucky, but everything came together fine in the end. This time I just couldn't work my way through it and after a minute or two I started thinking about what I could substitute them with. And I found my answer in the freezer- peas. Nice, bright green peas. The color and shape offered a nice contrast to the red pepper strips. Normally I would type out the original recipe verbatim and then note my changes below, but seeing as I will pretty much stick to this version from here on out, I'm posting it with my alterations. It is also a half version of the Everyday Food recipe, as it was their "Freeze It" feature, making enough for a casserole for now and casserole for later.

Tuna-Noodle Casserole
Adapted from Everyday Food Recipe; Serves 4

2.5 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for baking dish
Coarse salt and ground pepper
8 oz. wide egg noodles
1 red bell pepper, ribs and seeds removed, thinly sliced lengthwise
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup 1% milk
2 6oz. cans tuna packed in olive oil, drained
1-1.5 cups frozen peas
2-3 scallions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly oil 8-inch square (or other shallow 2-quart) baking dish. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook noodles until 2 minutes short of al dente, according to package instructions; drain, and return to pot.
• Meanwhile, in a large pot, heat oil over medium. Add bell pepper; season with salt and pepper. Cook until crisp-tender, 4 to 6 minutes. Add flour and cook, stirring, 1 minute. Gradually add milks, stirring until smooth. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture comes to a simmer.
• Remove from heat; add mixture to noodles in pot, along with tuna, peas, and scallions. Season with salt and pepper, and toss. Transfer to prepared baking dish, and sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake until golden and bubbling, about 20 minutes.

My notes: The reasoning behind the milk- The original recipe called for 5 cups of whole milk. Halving it left me needing 2.5 cups. We don't drink whole milk, we buy 1%. So instead of having a bunch of whole milk leftover, going bad in my fridge, I bought a pint of whole and made the difference up with our 1%. I figure it saved us some nominal amount of calories and fat too. I bet I probably could have substituted some white whole wheat flour too. Maybe I'll try that next time.

Tacos for me, Tacos for you

Well, last night's dinner didn't happen. I realized I had forgotten an ingredient, and then the more I thought about it the less I felt up to making a mess in the kitchen. So I made a sandwich instead. In thinking of how I would have liked to have something to post today I remembered that I never wrote about the dinner that Steph and I made together a while back. We created quite a feast, but my main contribution was the recipe for the Shrimp & Corn Tacos. This recipe is super yummy, and of course is from my favorite source of inspiration, Martha Stewart.

Shrimp & Corn Tacos
Recipe from Martha Stewart; Serves 4
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
1 jalapeno, (seeds and ribs removed, for less heat), minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
Coarse salt and ground pepper
2 plum tomatoes, chopped
1 10 oz. frozen corn kernels, unthawed
1/2 lb. large peeled and deveined shrimp, cut into 1/2" pieces
12 6" corn tortillas, heated according to package instructions
2 cups shredded cabbage
1/2 cup green or red salsa
1/2 cup sour cream
Lime wedges, for serving

• Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Add onion, jalapeño, and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are softened, 4 to 5 minutes.
• Add tomatoes and corn; cook, stirring occasionally, until corn is heated through and tomatoes are soft, 4 to 5 minutes.
• Add shrimp and cook, stirring occasionally, until opaque throughout, 2 to 3 minutes. Serve immediately with tortillas, cabbage, salsa, sour cream, and lime wedges.

My Notes: I often like to take the easy way out (as you may have noticed by now), so I often will use 1/2 lb. of the small salad shrimp you can buy in the freezer section. They are already the perfect size so it saves me some time. Also, I've yet to be convinced that I need cabbage on my tacos. We typically just toss some cheese and salsa on. In the picture you might notice some guacamole which is also delicious as a topping. We served our tacos with some spicy black beans, lime & cilantro rice and sipped on some sangria with our dinner.

Fishy Delishy

Last week Josh informed me that we were the recipients of some fresh little trout fillets from his Dad's recent fishing trip. My brain was buzzing with ideas. It occurred to me that the best thing I could make would be something that had been haunting me since I learned of it on this episode of Mexico One Plate at a Time- Ceviche. I searched through several recipes online, and remembering what I also saw on the episode, I came up with a general recipe. Josh forgot the fish that night, which was quite depressing after juicing 7 limes, but when he brought it home the next night I cut it all up in preparation. It was amazing to see the fish actually cook in the lime juice! I'll post my recipe below, and after some comments about how I came around to my personal version of this delicious Latin appetizer salad.

Jessica's Trout Ceviche
Recipe from me!











1/2 to 1 lb. fresh trout fillets, cut to 1" pieces
Juice of 6 or 7 limes
1/2 green bell pepper, seeded & diced
1/2 red bell pepper, seeded & diced
1 small onion, diced
1 small avocado, diced
1 1/2 Roma tomatoes, seeded & diced
1 jalapeno, seeded & ribbed, minced
Plenty of cilantro, well torn or chopped
Coarse salt

• Cover trout in lime juice in a plastic container with lid or Ziploc bag. Refrigerate for up to 6 hours, allowing juice to cook fish.
• Drain and discard juice from fish. Toss all vegetables and cilantro together. Add fish and mix. Salt to taste. You can serve immediately, or refrigerate to allow flavors to mingle. Serve with tortilla chips, tortillas, or crackers.
  

My notes: A lot of the recipes I came across involved mixing a sort of dressing from olive oil & red wine vinegar. I did mix this dressing up, but I didn't like the taste of it, so I didn't use it. If you're interested in trying it that way, just mix equal parts oil & vinegar. The recipe I referenced the most used 1/4 cup of each. Also, the cilantro is a personal preference kind of thing. I love cilantro, so I used plenty of it. And I ended up using quite a bit of salt, because I over-soaked the fish a little bit and it helped temper the strong lime flavor that resulted. But overall I enjoyed this dish immensely. Josh liked it, but a big batch of fresh raw veggies, especially onions and peppers, really isn't his thing. It is however my thing, and thusly I ate the majority of it. I served this ceviche for dinner along with some tortilla chips, veggie quesadillas and Dos Equis with lime. Heaven.