The first time I was offered fish tacos I thought my Grandfather was joking. I had just finished my junior year in highschool and my grandparents took one of my brothers, my oldest cousin and me on a trip to their winter home in San Felipe, Mexico. My cousin and I spent our days sitting by the pool and seeing how much baby oil we could slather on ourselves before we burned to a crisp. At the pool there was a little cantina that served drinks and the occasional taco. Growing up I didn’t have much of an adventurous palette when it came to food. To us tacos were served in hard, often stale, shells with shredded iceberg lettuce and orange cheese. Based on the restaurants in the US, Mexican food is not my favorite. So when my grandfather asked if we wanted to try the fish tacos I thought he had lost his mind. Lynn and I didn’t want to be rude so we gave them a try.
The tacos were like none I’d ever had before. They were small fillets of whitefish, lightly breaded, and served on a soft corn tortilla with a little bit of fresh salsa. It was heaven. I came home from that trip in love with Mexican food only to find out that real Mexican food was nowhere to be found.
Years later I took a group of high school students to Tijuana to build a house. As part of the trip the organization took us to a roadside taco stand for lunch. It was our “authentic Mexican meal.” A week in Mexico and we only ate cafeteria food. That one afternoon at the taco stand brought back the memories of my previous experience sitting by the pool with my cousin and I remembered how much I loved true Mexican cuisine. Back in the US I was left with greasy cheese laden enchiladas and stale taco shells.
Recently my husband and I had happy hour at a local Mexican restaurant. Then again at another. Both of these establishments seeks to put an end to congealed cheese and cheesy mariachi music. Masa and Matador serve up Mexican food as it is supposed to be cooked. With my re-found love of Mexican food I set off to create a dinner for my family that was worthy of eating.
Fish Tacos with corn salsa and avocado cream
2 tilapia fillets (or other flaky white fish)
Salt, pepper, cumin to taste
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly oil a baking pan. Season the fish with the salt, pepper and cumin. I like more cumin so I put more on. Bake the fish about 15 – 20 minutes or until cooked through. (we had to bake the fish because our grill is currently out of commission)
Corn Salsa
1 cob of corn (cut the kernels off)
1 can black beans
1 medium tomato diced
1/2 sweet onion diced
2 cloves garlic minced
Handful chopped cilantro
Juice of 1 lime
salt, pepper and cumin to taste
oil
Heat oil in a pan over medium high heat. Saute onions and garlic until fragrant. Add corn and black beans. Cook 2-3 minutes. Add Cilantro and lime juice. Cook 2-3 minutes more. Season with salt, pepper and cumin. You can add chili powder or peppers if you like it a little spicy. Remove from heat and stir in tomatoes.
Avocado Cream
I make this and put it in a squeeze bottle in the fridge and serve it on everything
2 avocados
2 cloves garlic
handful chopped cilantro
1/2 c. cream
2 T. butter (I never said the cream was healthy)
Salt to taste
Puree the avocados, garlic and cilantro in a food processor. Heat butter in a sauce pan over medium heat. Add avocado puree and heat through. Add cream and combine. Season.
To assemble the final dish: heat soft corn tortillas in the oven (wrap a stack of them in foil and throw them in the oven while the fish is cooking). Flake fish apart and put on tortilla. Top with salsa and cream. You may want to double the tortillas since the salsa can get a little messy.
I totally forgot about this week’s Tuesday night supper. In fact, I don’t even know what we are having for dinner tonight and it is 3:30 in the afternoon. My child’s behavior is preventing me from venturing much further than my mailbox. Odds are I’ll ask my husband to pick something up on his way home.
There are some nights that we are able to just throw a bunch of stuff into a pan and call it supper. Most of the time that involves some sort of chicken and veg combination. The other night this was the plan. However, when we defrosted the chicken that had been in our freezer is smelled a little off. The meat supply in the house was getting slim and there wasn’t anything that could be defrosted quickly and it was getting late. My husband already had fried rice on the stove so we had to find something that would go with that. No meat, a drawer full of veg that needed to be eaten, a can of black beans and a pan of fried rice, I’d call that dinner. Here’s what resulted*:
Mexican Vegetarian Stir-fry
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 ear of corn (kernels cut off)
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 cup broccoli florets
1 cup green beans
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 small tomatoes, diced
cumin
chili powder (optional)
season salt
salt & pepper to taste
olive oil (or oil of your choice)
1/4 cup chicken stock
Prepare whatever you are going to put this stir-fry on first. In our case it was fried rice (recipe below).
Prepare vegetables and put in one big bowl. Heat oil in a large saute pan or wok over medium high heat. Add garlic and cook until just fragrant (don’t burn it). Add vegetables and stir fry, about 2-3 minutes. Add spices to your liking. I prefer a hefty dose of cumin and less salt. Add chicken stock and cook vegetables until they just soften. Don’t over cook them or it will be all mush.
Serve over rice.
—————————–
Fried Rice
It sounds strange that a woman on a mission to rid her home of processed foods would allow such a thing as granular chicken bouillon into the house, but hey, I like it.
1 cup short grain Cal-rose rice (don’t use long grain)
garlic powder
granular chicken bouillon (or option 2)
1 3/4 cup water
1 1/2 T butter
(option 2)
1 3/4 cup chicken broth
salt to taste
Heat butter in a skillet over medium high heat. Add rice. Add a sprinkling of garlic powder and cook rice until opaque. I don’t know exactly how much garlic powder to use since I just sprinkle it on. Probably 1/2 – 1 teaspoon. Add 1 heaping spoonful (regular dinner spoon – no soup spoon) of granular bouillon, don’t stir it in. Add water and cover until the sizzling stops (about 10 seconds). Remove pan lid and stir in bouillon. If you are using the chicken broth skip the bouillon step and just add the broth instead of water. Reduce heat to low and cook covered about 15 minutes or until rice is tender. Stir rice after about 5 minutes in to prevent sticking.
This dish should be slightly salty.
salt
Often times when you think of Piccata it is veal. Although if you use Google as your spell check (as I often do) and type in the word piccata the first hit you get is for the Wiki article for Chicken Piccata. This recipe is a modification of a Lemon Veal Piccata recipe I found in an adoption fundraiser cookbook. While the original is in the book I pretty much do this one from memory. It is my personal go-to dinner when I’ve run out of options and have limited time. You will also notice that it is a very small portion of meat. We have found that 1 half of a chicken breast can feed all three of us. I serve this with our family recipe of fried rice (to follow another day) or mashed potatoes and a salad or whatever fresh vegetable I have on hand.
Lemon Chicken Piccata
1 half of a boneless skinless chicken breast
1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 t garlic powder
1/4 t season salt
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 lemon sliced
1 T. butter
oil
salt & pepper to taste
Cut chicken breast into 3 pieces (I do one smaller one and 2 larger ones since one member of the family is only 4 years old). Pound flat.
In a shallow pie plate or soup plate combine flour, garlic powder and season salt.
Heat a good heaping of oil (we use grapeseed) in a non-stick skillet (you can use a stainless steel, but sometimes it sticks) over medium-high heat. Dredge chicken breasts in the flour mixture and put in pan. Brown on both sides until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken from the pan and keep warm.
Add wine to the pan (this would actually be to deglaze if you are using a regular pan, not non-stick). Stir up the bits on the bottom of the pan and then add the chicken broth, reduce by about 1/3. Add the lemon slices to the pan and cook about 2 minutes. Don’t leave the lemon in too long or it will get bitter. Remove the lemon slices. Turn off the heat and add the butter. Swirl the pan around to melt the butter. Add salt & pepper to taste. Serve the sauce over the chicken.
The hustle and bustle of every day life is standing in the way of family. It seems to me that the divorce rate went up with the invention of TV dinners. I’m sure the guys behind Freakonomics could find a way to support that theory. What’s missing in today’s society? If you ask me it’s simply sitting down at the family table and having a meal. It could be breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Our little family is a bit out of the norm. We have all 3 meals as a family. We are fortunate enough that my husband is able to join us for lunch and I am currently a work at home mom. Even if circumstances were different we would make sure that at least one meal a day was done as a family. This is where the opposition says, “but I don’t have time to cook dinner.” I disagree.
There are rare circumstances when I slave over a hot stove all day long. Sure, we have the occasional dinner where I’ve spent a few hours making pasta or I’ve puttered with a focaccia bread for a good part of the day. Many of our meals are thrown together at the last minute. I do try to plan out a weekly menu to eliminate frequent trips to the grocery, but if I am busy with work a weekly menu can be overlooked.
In another post I’ll cover the basics of our pantry. The jist of this post is to say that you don’t have to have your dinner from a box or the freezer. A quick and easy supper can be prepared in 45 minutes and GASP! it’s healthy*.
In the typical American household mom and dad probably work, kids have homework or after school activities. It seems as if there isn’t time to cook. I will prove you wrong and create a family building exercise in the process.
The first in our new weekly series “Tuesday Night Supper” is dedicated to one of our all time favorite dishes. I featured this dish in the flyer I put together when I did the Tacoma Reads Fresh and Simple, Just Add Kids lecture. The key to this dish is family involvement. All three of us spends time chopping vegetables, cutting meat or measuring spices. Yes, even the 4 year old chops veggies. The lovely part about this recipe is that you can add whatever vegetable you happen to have on hand. Give it a try tonight. You might just like it.
Moroccan Chicken
1 boneless skinless chicken breast cut into bite sized pieces
2 teaspoons salt
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 carrots, sliced
2 celery stalks, sliced
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon paprika
3/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne (or to taste)
1/4 teaspoon ground tumeric
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 cup diced tomatoes
1 can chickpeas, drained
1 zucchini, sliced
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Season chicken with salt and brown in a large saucepan over medium heat until almost cooked through. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.
Saute onion, garlic, carrots and celery in same pan. When tender, stir in ginger, paprika, cumin, oregano, cayenne pepper and turmeric; stir fry for about 1 minute, then mix in broth and tomatoes. Return chicken to pan, reduce heat to low and simmer for about 10 minutes.
Add chickpeas and zucchini to pan and bring to simmering once again; cover pan and cook for about 15 minutes, or until zucchini is cooked through and tender. Stir in lemon juice and serve.
Serve over steamed rice.
————————————-
*we’ll cover getting your kids to eat real food in another post also
Recent Comments