(Fish) Taco Tuesday – Recipe

He grew up in his mom’s busy catering kitchen sampling carefully prepared foie gras, pate and tenderloin.  I grew up with on the go parents nuking hot pockets, chicken tenders and tator tots on the fly. 

Amazingly enough our two very different worlds collided and together we’ve been creating our own home cooked classics ever since.

Example:  In my house, we always had Taco Tuesdays.  Not only was it pretty catchy, but it was a quick fix that my brother and I could cook up if the parents were working late.  And P.S. I’m a pro a browning “taco meat”.

So for this Tuesday, we’re bringing you our inspired version of my family favorite – still a fairly quick fix but with an extra dose of kicked up flavor.

Fish Tacos .. you know you want to make some.

Let’s let loose on some divine fish tacos, shall we?

First up, the all important accompaniments: Guacamole Regional and Citrus Cilantro Slaw.
Starting with our Guacamole Regionale –

• (2) large Roma tomatoes, quartered and deseeded
• (1) avocado, finely chopped
• (1/2) red onion, finely chopped
• (1/2) yellow onion, finely chopped
• (1) mango, finely chopped
• (3) tablespoons of jalapeno, finely chopped
• (1) garlic clove, finely chopped
• (3) tablespoons of fresh cilantro, chopped
• (1) tablespoon of sugar
• salt & pepper to taste
• (1) lime, juiced

A look at finely chopped. Basically you’re looking to cut these ingredients into pieces of roughly the same small size.

 

Guacamole ingredients finely chopped and ready for final mixing.

1. Once all your ingredients are finely chopped, chopped, juiced and added, mix that colorful assortment to create your homemade guacamole regionale.

 
Next up, our Citrus Cilantro Slaw!

Dry Ingredients for the slaw:

• (10) Brussel sprouts, finely chiffonade
• (1/2) red onion, julienne
• (1/2) yellow onion, julienne
• (1) clove of garlic, finely diced
• (1/2) red pepper, julienne

1. Combine the above ingredients in a medium bowl.

Love the color in this recipe!

For the slaw’s dressing:

• (1/3) cup of orange juice
• (1) lemon, juiced
• (1/4) cup of cilantro
• (1/3) cup of olive oil
• (1/4) cup of cider vinegar
• (3) tablespoons of honey (I prefer organic raw… yum!)
• (2) teaspoons of salt
• (1) teaspoon of pepper
• (1) teaspoon of red pepper flakes (the hotter the better… well in our opinion that is!)

Just wait until you dip your finger in this ... divine.

2. Combine all of the above dressing ingredients in a separate, medium bowl.
3. Emulsify and taste. 
4. Add salt and pepper to your liking.
5.  Add  three fourths of your dressing to the dry slaw ingredients and blend well.  Reserve the remaining for your fish marinade.

Love the texture. Here, open up, take a bite.

On to the main event, the fish for our tacos!

• (1) pound of fresh, local Haddock (feel free to substitute with tuna, grouper, etc), sliced it into chunks

Fish Marinade:

• (2) tablespoons of cilantro
• (2) cloves of garlic, finely diced
• remaining (1/4) of your dressing from up above

1.  Add your marinade to your fish and let it “marinade for a minute”… or better yet, 15, in your fridge in a Ziplock bag.

Personally, I think this looks good enough to eat as is.. but it gets better!

2. After your fish has marinated, pull out of the fridge and prepare to sear it my friends.
3. Place a large saute pan on your stove and turn on the heat to medium-low to medium.
4.  Add your fish (and residual marinade) to your saute pan and lightly toss the fish from side to side every 2 to 3 minutes.

If only this picture included smell...

5.  Total cooking time:  roughly 12 minutes.  You are looking for a solid coloring to your fish (no longer opaque).
Side note: if you opted for a fish like tuna or salmon, you can slightly undercook your fish for a more raw finish.

If you’re feeling especially adventurous, you could take it a step further with your own homeade tortillas like we did.  Here is the recipe we used from AllRecipes.com 

We like to call these latin Annie's tortillas...

Once all of the above recipes are complete, lay out your warm tortillas, add your delicious fish and top with hefty portions of guacamole and slaw and all you cheese lovers: lay some freshly shredded goodness on top or sprinkle with a little cotija cheese.

Final step, roll it up and ENJOY!

Roll it up and devour!

Until we eat again,

A & H

Sunday Brunch – Pancakes for Brooke

Happy Fourth of July weekend y’all!  Our dear friend Brooke is quite a pancake connoisseur.  She can’t get enough she says.  Since this weekend just so happens to include both her one year wedding anniversary AND her birthday, we thought we would put together a recipe just for her (and share with you!).

You know you want to make some...

Lets let loose on some white chocolate, fresh blueberry and orange zest pancakes, shall we?

Basic Pancake Recipe:

• 1 egg
• 1 1/4 cup of low-fat organic milk (although H dog recommends whole)
• 1/2 teaspoon organic vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cup of organic flour
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder 
  (Important note:  If you’re going big with additional acidic ingredients as we are down below, then you will want to substitute baking soda for your baking powder.  Acidic ingredients include orange zest or juice, molasses, brown sugar, etc.)
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

Mise en place. French culinary term for "everything in place."

1.  In a medium bowl, beat eggs, milk and vanilla.
2.  In a separate medium bowl, mix your above dry ingredients.  Once mixed, create a well in the center of your dry mixture.
3.  Add your wet mixture to your dry mixture.

Creating a well in your pancake mixture helps you mix your batter together more evenly.

Here is the consistency you're looking to achieve if you're planning to add in extra yummy ingredients. If you would prefer to stick with the basic recipe, continue mixing until a few less lumps remain.

Additions (the fun stuff!):

• 1 and a 1/4 cup of fresh blueberries
• 1/3 cup of white chocolate chips
• 1 tablespoon of orange zest

6.  Add in the above yummy ingredients. 

Orange zest, fresh blueberries and decadent white chocolate... oh yeah!

Lookin' good. We're ready!

7.  Now we’re ready to cook these puppies.  Add 1/2 teaspoon of vegetable oil (or olive oil or grape seed oil or go southern and slap down some butter!) to a 9 inch saute pan. 

8.  Turn your heat on medium low and heat your pan.  You can drop a little water to test once ready… does it sizzle?  If yes then we’re ready to cook these cakes!

A peek at our setting . We currently have an electric range (and are still missing our gas from NC).

9.  We recommend you use a 1/2 cup to measure out each pancake. 

This measurement gives you a lovely (approx) 5 inch pancake and helps keep your yield more consistent.

10. Cooking on each side will vary with each pancake.  The first few will take longer per side while your pan continues to heat. 

When cooking pancakes, look for bubbles to form on top and then burst. Once this is actively going, you're ready to flip!

11.   Another tip:  Be sure to add another 1/2 teaspoon of oil to the saute pan between each pancake to ensure your pancakes do not stick and that each cooks more evenly.

Pancakes will cook faster as you go because your pan is tempering at a faster rate.

12.  This recipe yields approx. (5) to (6) pancakes with additions, and approx. (4) if you just make the basic pancake.

Ta-da!  Birthday brunch for Brooke!  Enjoy!

Top your fluffy stack with a little powdered sugar and pure Vermont maple syrup... sooo good!

A patriotic twist:  Reduce your milk to 1 cup, reduce your blueberries to 3/4 cup and add 1/2 cup of pureed strawberries for red, white and blue pancakes!

Sunday Brunch – Southern Biscuits And Gravy

You can take the southerners out of the south but well, you know…

 H Dog was recently assigned breakfast duty in his 5:00 am baking class (and p.s., I just loved the daily alarms for THAT one).  What better way to give his northeast crew a taste of the south then cooking up some of our beloved southern biscuits and gravy.  Lucky for me there were leftovers, and lucky for you, I scored the recipe to share (in my own words of course…)

You know you want to make some...

Let’s let loose on some biscuits and gravy shall we?

First up – sausage gravy:

• (1) pound of fresh sausage (ground or linked)
• (4) cups of milk (get crazy, go organic whole)
• (1) stick (or 4 oz.) of unsalted butter
• (1/2) cup of organic all-purpose flour
• a sprinkle of salt and pepper to taste

1.  Place ground sausage in a large skillet, crank up the heat to medium high and cook that delicious sausage until cooked through (browned).  Once cooked, transfer the sausage to a bowl.

2. Add (4) cups of milk to the original sausage skillet, turn your heat on low and slowly bring the milk to a simmer.  Simmer = little bubbles

3. Grab yourself a sauce pot now (we love to bring out all the pots and pans when we get down).  In that sauce pot, melt your butter and then add flour to make your roux.

4. Once your milk is at a simmer, go ahead and add your roux.  Stir thoroughly.

5. Finally, add in that scrumptious sausage and sprinkle in your salt and pepper to taste.

Moving on… southern biscuits, here we go:

• (3) and (1/3) cups of self rising organic flour
• (1) cup of organic whole milk
• (1/3) cup shortening
• (1/4) cup unsalted butter (keep it cold and dice it up)
• (1) teaspoon of salt

1. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.

2. Pour your flour into a large bowl. 

3. Add your salt, shortening and butter.

Dicing the butter to makes it easier to work with during the mixing process.

4. Dive in hands first and mix thoroughly until your mixture becomes mealy.

Here's a closer look at "mealy." I'm very visual... thought it might help.

5. Make yourself a little well in your flour mixture and in that fancy well, add your milk.

Flour Meet Milk. Milk Prepare to Meet Flour.

Creating this well is another trick to help you mix the ingredients together to create your dough.

6. Continue to mix with your hands until mixed thoroughly.

7. Take dough mixture out of the bowl and place on a flat surface that is dusted with a small amount of flour (we like to use our kitchen countertop).

8.  Roll out your dough mixture until it is an inch by an inch and a quarter thickness.

9.  Grab yourself a cookie cutter (or just grab a drinking glass, we know you have at least one of those…) and begin cutting out your biscuits until all of your dough has been used.  You may need to re-roll the dough a few times during this process.

Who needs a biscuit cutter when you have a rocks glass?!

10. Lightly flour the bottom of each biscuit to prevent sticking and place all of your beautiful biscuits on an ungreased sheet pan.

Flouring the bottom prevents sticking. Thank you H Dog for being our Vanna.

11.  Conventional ovens – bake your biscuits approx. 17 minutes / Convection ovens – bake approx. 14 minutes

12. Recipe yields between 10 and 12 biscuits.

Last step – plate those pretty southern puppies, pour on the gravy and dig in. 

Get fancy with a little fresh sage, or just dig in!

If you have any questions at all,  just drop us a comment.  We promise to be prompt in our response.  Hope you enjoy!

Until with eat again,

A & H