For the Love of Recipes

First of all, please take no notice of my very sparsely decorated dining room. We'll talk about that another day. Maybe.

Moving on...

I decided to make fish tacos for dinner last night. As I started to prepare the food and looked around at all it's yummy-ness, I decided I needed to invite Aaron and Lara over. You remember them, right? They're our next door neighbors. This isn't an unusual occurrence. I really enjoy feeding people yummy food. Especially people like Lara and Aaron who really appreciate eating my yummy food.

But allow me to back up a bit. On Monday night I took an Ethiopian cooking class at our local community food co-op. My love of Ethiopian food goes back a few years now and I was delighted to see that the co-op was going to be offering a class from a woman who has a booth at the Farmer's Market. So I signed up for the class and went - it was a fun diversion from the usual things I do every day.

As the class began, a woman next to me in the front row raised her hand (I was a little late arriving - and the only seat left was one in the front row which is the only reason I was sitting there. I am most definitely not one of those front row student types.) So she raises her hand. In the first few minutes of class. Really?? Come on, let the woman talk for goodness sake. But she raises her hand and asks:

Are you going to give us a printout of the recipes at the end of class?

Ok, fair enough. I'll let it slide this time but you better not be raising your hand every 3 minutes.

And the teacher answers:

No. I don't use recipes.

No apology. Not even a hint of apology on her face. Nothing. Just no.

You could have sliced through the collective gasp that happened at that moment - it was that thick. Images of angry, smelly hippies lined up at the co-op desk demanding their money back were flashing through my mind. But me? In my cute, trendy scarf? I was totally fine with it. Because that's how I roll. Without recipes.

So last night when Lara asked me for my recipe and I started in with

well, just boil the chile a little, add a little rice, salt and pepper... oh, I sort of used this sauce recipe that I found on this blog... cook the tortillas on each side

and her eyes started to glaze over and she asked me so sweetly if I would put the recipe on my blog - I couldn't say no. So here it is. For Lara. Because she likes recipes.

Fish Tacos and Poblano Chile Rice

I forgot to take before pictures, and this was all that was left after.

Tacos

• any sort of fish you'd like - I used frozen Tilapia from Trader Joe's
• corn tortillas

Lightly coat fish with some spray olive oil or brush with butter. Season with lemon pepper and bake. Mine was frozen so I cooked it at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.

Warm tortillas in a dry pan or on a cast iron comal until soft (approx. 30 sec. on each side). Keep in a tortilla warmer or wrapped in a kitchen towel until served.


Toppings

• Pico de Gallo
• Fish Taco Sauce
• chopped cabbage

Pico de Gallo

Here's the thing about pico de gallo. I'm going to give you one warning. DO NOT try and use any type of food processor or food chopper or any such thing to achieve the desired texture. I've tried it. It will not work. Trust me. What you can use? A cute hubby who you have spent years training in the art of fine produce chopping. I learned this recipe while I was a student in Mexico and have adapted it, only slightly, over the years.

• 6 roma tomatoes (or the equivalent in ripe, juicy tomatoes from your garden)
• 1/2 white onion
• a handful, or so, of fresh cilantro
• a large spoonful (or as much as desired) of pickled jalapenos
• juice of two limes
• salt to taste

Chop tomatoes and onions (1/4" cubes). Chop jalapenos finely (this is the only thing I sometimes use a food chopper for). Chop cilantro. Mix together. Add lime juice and salt. Use more salt than you'd think but taste as you go to make sure. If you're serving it with salty chips, use less. Lately I've also been adding orange and yellow bell pepper. It gives it nice color but is definitely not authentic. I also add chopped cabbage sometimes.


Fish Taco Sauce

In the past I've used my own made-up recipe but I recently found a great recipe that you can use for SO many things over at In Praise of Leftovers. I changed Sarah's recipe slightly for the tacos by adding sour cream to make it a little thicker. I have also used this recipe as taco salad dressing and in cabbage slaw to serve with Pioneer Woman's spicy shredded pork. It's awesome.

Top the tacos with the toppings (surprise!) and serve to your adoring fans. They'll love you forever.


Poblano Chile Rice

• 1 poblano chile
• 1/2 white onion (leftover from pico de gallo)
• 2-3 cloves garlic
• olive oil
• handful of cilantro (also left over from the pico de gallo)
• box of chicken stock
• 1 1/2 - 2 cups white rice
• kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
  

Rinse rice and allow to soak for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, coat the bottom of a large pan (or dutch oven) with olive oil. Heat over medium heat. Boil chile in water until soft. Remove seeds and stem. In a blender, blend chile, cilantro and 1 c of chicken stock. Don't blend it until it's completely smooth, you still want some chunks.

Once your oil is warm, drain water off of rice and add the rice to the pan. Spread out the rice and let it cook for a while then mix it a bit and let it sit some more. You want it a nice golden brown color. Chop the onion and add it to the rice until soft. Add crushed garlic and let it cook for a bit. Add the chile mixture and the rest of the box of chicken stock (I'm talking about those boxes you can get from Costco or Trader Joe's - you know the ones, right?) Bring it to a boil. Reduce to simmer, cover and let cook. I don't know - about 15 minutes? Now, I will tell you one thing - I am NOT a skilled rice cooker. Mine always turns out mushy, I don't know why and it really doesn't bother me. I think you're supposed to let it cook, then let it sit and then fluff it. I'm counting on Martha for this one. She's got the skillz on this kind of stuff. (*hint hint - that means you're supposed to try this recipe, Martha, and spruce it up the way you do)

And that's it!

Deep breath....

Phew! That was a long post!