Fish Tacos!

Yesterday Javier, Eduardo, Aaron, and I got together for dinner. We made a very summer appropriate meal of fish tacos, chips and salsa, and mojitos! I wanted to share the fish taco recipe because it is so easy and healthy:

Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 cup corn 1/2 cup diced red onion 1 cup peeled, chopped jicama 1/2 cup diced red bell pepper 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves, finely chopped 1 lime, zested and juiced 2 tablespoons sour cream (I subbed mayo for sour cream because I don't like sour cream)

2 tablespoons cayenne pepper 1 tablespoon ground black pepper 2 tablespoons salt (Dad you can eliminate this for your diet) 6 (4 ounce) fillets tilapia 2 tablespoons olive oil 12 corn or wheat tortillas, warmed

Instructions:

1. Preheat grill for high heat. (Javier doesn't have a grill, so preheated the oven to 350 degrees)

2. In a medium bowl, mix together corn, red onion, jicama, red bell pepper, and cilantro. Stir in lime juice and zest.

3. In a small bowl, combine cayenne pepper, ground black pepper, and salt. Brush each fillet with olive oil, and sprinkle with spices.

4. Arrange fillets on grill grate, and cook for 3 minutes per side. (Oven instructions: pop the fish into the oven for 5 minutes on each side. If you like the grill affect, you can broil it on high for 1 minute each side.) For each fiery fish taco, top two corn tortillas with fish, sour cream, and corn salsa.

Fish Roe Fried Rice!

Ingredients:

2 cups of white rice

2 eggs

2 filets of tilapia

kosher salt

black pepper

white pepper

cornstarch

1 small box of sweet fish roe

olive oil

Steam rice in rice cooker or cook over stove. Heat a little bit of oil on the wok on high heat until hot. Put in rice and spread in thin layer. leave foor 3 minutes. flip the rice and leave for another 3 minutes. Take out rice and put in a big bowl.

Cut up tilapia into bite size pieces. In a bowl, mix cornstarch, kosher salt, white and black pepper together. Coat tilapia with this mixture. Put in a good bit of oil in the wok and heat on medium high heat. Drop the tilapia pieces into the wok. Pan fry until golden brown. Take out and drain onto some paper towels.

Scramble two eggs and half the fish roe in a bowl. Heat up wok with a bit more oil. Put the egg mixture in. When the bottom of the egg hardens a little bit, put in the rice. Stir it all up! Add a bit more salt. Now put the fish back in and stir it all up for 5 minutes.

Put the entire fried rice back into the big bowl and make a small well in the middle. Put the remaining roe into the wok and fry until cooked. Put all roe into the well.

Easy peasy!

Cauliflower Bread Thingy from Italy!

Remember this post?Well I finally decided to make it!

Here is the recipe:

Ingredients:
1 quart half-and-half
1 head cauliflower (2 pounds), cut into 1-inch-wide florets
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon white pepper
3 ciabatta rolls
small bit of butter
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Bring half-and-half with cauliflower, covered directly with a round of parchment paper, just to a boil in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, then reduce heat and simmer until cauliflower is tender, 10 to 12 minutes.
Transfer cauliflower with a slotted spoon to a blender and blend with 1/4 cup cooking liquid until smooth (use caution when blending hot liquids), then add salt and pepper. Reheat over low heat, stirring occasionally for 4 minutes.
Slice the ciabatta in half like you would an English muffin. Butter the insides of each piece. Set on a cookie sheet. Stick in the oven on high broil until the top is golden. Take out of oven, spoon puree over the ciabatta. Sprinkle parmesan cheese over puree. Put back in oven and set broil to high. Take out when golden and toasty!

Blue was very helpful in waiting with me right by the oven!

Indian Grilled Chicken Marinated in Milk & Yogurt

This was a contest winner! Not by me, of course, but still, a winner!
All pictures courtesy of The Pioneer Woman.

You can take out the salt and pepper and it would be very healthy. You can even eliminate the milk, Nandita says, but it's 2% so that shouldn't be a big deal. Yogurt is so good for you. Also, if you think grilling outside is unhealthy (mom and dad) you can make this in the oven.

Recipe once again from the Pioneer Woman. Go here for more pics!


Indian Grilled Chicken Marinated in Milk/yogurt

Chicken pieces (whatever kind your family eats)- must have the bone and skin still on.
Plain yogurt
2% Milk
Garam Masala spice
Kosher Salt
Black Pepper
Marinate chicken OVERNIGHT in a mixture of all ingredients.

Heat grill to around 300-400 degrees.
Place chicken skin down on grill and bake for until internal temp is 140.
Flip chicken over and continue to bake until chicken has reached 165 F for at least 4 minutes.
Remove from grill and let it “rest” for at least 3 minutes.

Let me know how it turns out! I made it today with jsut some chicken thighs and it was deLIcious!

Summer Tomato Pasta Salad

Here is a salad you can do totally without sodium, just take out the parmesan cheese and olives. You can substitute small cubes of mozzarella cheese, but really, you don't even need it! It is delicious on its own!
Recipe from The Pioneer Woman Cooks. Go there for lots and lots of more mouth-watering pictures!
All pictures courtesy of The Pioneer Woman.


Sundried Tomato Pasta Salad
adapted from Ina Garten

Dressing (makes more than enough; spoon leftovers over a block of cream cheese and serve with crackers)
1 7-oz jar sundried tomatoes, drained
4 cloves garlic
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt
pepper

Salad
16 ounces corkscrew pasta
1 jar Kalamata or assorted olives
1 pint rip cherry tomatoes, halved
Several (10 to 15) basil leaves, chopped or julienne
1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Prepare dressing by blending sundried tomatoes, garlic, salt, pepper, and vinegar until tomatoes are chopped. Blend while drizzling in olive oil; continue blending until mixed together.
Cook pasta according to package directions, drain, and rinse with cold water until no longer hot. Pour 2/3 of the dressing over the pasta, add olives, and toss together. Add remaining ingredients, tossing together and adding more dressing until the salad is coated to your liking. Serve on a big platter with an extra sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.

Hollow stem vegetables with fermented tofu

This is a very basic recipe, but to do it well, it has to be done right. Combined with my parents' and relatives' secrets, and my own experiments, here is what I've found works best.
Ingredients:

1 bunch of hollow stemmed vegetable (sometimes called Chinese water spinach or Ong-Choy) Make sure the bunch is very fresh, with no wilted leaves.
4–5 cubes of fermented tofu (see pic below):

(Made in Taiwan. See?)
5 tbs olive oil
3 cloves of garlic
salt
white pepper
a small sprinkle of Hondashi:Separate the stems from the leaves. Cut the stems into 1 inch sections. Soak stems and leaves in two different bowls for 1 hour. Wash and strain both, then pat dry with paper towels.

Mash and cut garlic into chunks. Heat the olive oil in a wok, and throw in the garlic until the oil is very very hot, but make sure to not burn the garlic. Throw in the stems. Stir and coat the stems in the oil. Cook for 3 minutes until the stems turn a bright green color. Add 2 cubes of the fermented tofu and stir until veggies are coated in deliciousness.

Throw in the leaves and stir fry for 2 minutes. Add remaining fermented tofu. Stir until everything is fully coated. Just before you take it out of the wok, add salt, white pepper, and hondashi. Stir to fully flavor.

SO DELICIOUS!!

Baby octopus and tomatos stir fry, Taiwanese style

Ingredients:
1.5 lb baby octopus or squid
2 tbs sesame oil
cornstarch
salt
white pepper
A LOT of freshly ground black pepper
3 cloves of garlic, mashed and cut into chunks

1/2 cup soy sauce
1 tbs sugar
3 tbs olive oil
1 medium tomato, cut in half then sliced into 1/4" pieces
1 tsp chili pepper flakes

Massage salt, black and white pepper, soy sauce, sesame oil, and sugar into baby octopus. Let it marinade for 30 minutes. Heat up oil in wok and throw in garlic until it sizzles. Next throw in the tomatoes and chili pepper flakes. Let it cook for 2-3 minutes. Coat marinaded octopus with cornstarch, and throw it in the wok. Stir fry for 8-10 minutes. Serve over rice, with a side dish of hollow vegetables with fermented bean curd (recipe to come!).