fish taco cups

I was informed tonight that the boss thinks this is in the top three meals I make. Not sure I really agree since it has fish, but it is pretty good and one of the faster dishes I make. Probably one of the healthiest too. Come to think of it this was only the second time I've made this. I stole it from the food network and haven't changed much of the original recipe, just subbed a few things that are more readily available. I also omitted the creme fraiche the original recipe called for. I didn't think it was really needed.

You start with these little babies. Won tom wrappers, brushed with oil and cooked it muffin tins. Make a nice little edible cup. I'm going to have to use these for other apps. Maybe buffalo chicken dip in a cup?







The filling is bit sized pieces of avocado and mango with some green onion, lime juice and olive oil. Just before serving I tossed in some chopped arugula and the cooked fish. While I was prepping everything I first sliced up some red jalapenos and pickled them in the lime juice. The original recipe called for wasabi powder mixed with creme fraiche. I thought the red would give it some color and since it's on the sweet side it balances the dish out. Wasn't sure the boss wanted them so I took them out. Almost forgot to add them.

Won ton cups:

won ton wrapper

canola oil

Brush both sides of the wrapper with oil and place the in a muffin tin. Push them down to form a cup and bake @ 375 for 6 minutes or until they start to brown. Take them out and let cool.

The filling:

3 T  extra virgin olive oil

1 lb fresh tilapia fillets-cut to bite sized pieces

1 avocado-cut into half inch cubes

1 mango-cut into half inch cubes

3 green onion-finely chopped

1 red jalapeno-finely sliced-pickled in lime juice for 15 minutes

3 cups chopped arugula

Heat oil over med-high heat. Season the fish with salt and pepper and cook for 2-3 minutes a side. Set aside for a couple minutes to cool.

The dressing:

juice from two limes

3 T extra virgin olive oil

Whisk the juice and oil together. Add the mango, avocado, green onion, arugula, and jalapeno. Spoon the filling mixture in the cups and place a few pieces of fish on top.



chocolate covered strawberries

This was the dessert I didn't have time to make on Valentine's Day. The boss only wanted two things. A card that had "mom" written somewhere on it and chocolate covered strawberries. I made a little surf and turf for dinner and by the time we ate it was time for bed. I had these waiting for her when she got home from work Wednesday.

This recipe has a total of three ingredients so try to stay with me here. In a double boiler melt the chocolate and shortening. Next, wait for it....dip the strawberries in the melted chocolate. If you want them all fancy hang the tooth picks in a colander or stick them in a piece of styrofoam so they don't have a flat chocolate spot from laying down. As you can tell I wasn't feeling that fancy so I put mine on some wax paper. Just to be clear I tried melting some white chocolate to drizzle on but turns out white chocolate doesn't really like to be melted and I ended up with pasty white sludge. I think I rushed it.



This is kind of a two for one deal. something I've always wanted to try was chocolate and chile peppers.  Keeping things Aztec style in the midwest. For those brave enough to try eating something this crazy (and by crazy I mean something that has been done for centuries) do everything the same except add a small amount of dried chile's to the chocolate before you dip the strawberries. I had about half the chocolate left when I tried and put 2 1/2 teaspoons of cacsabel chiles. One thing I learned is you need to add a fair amount of chiles. Chocolate is hard to over power so finding a balance between chocolate and chiles requires what may seem like a lot of chiles. 

                          

This one was my end result. I added a small amount of salt too. Describing the taste is really hard and I'm not sure what I can compare it too. The cascabel is on the mild side so it didn't really add much more than a warming mouth feel as far as the heat goes but the chocolate and chile combo complimented each other very well. It added a complexity that I just can't explain. Imagine having hot chocolate and room temp but it tasting hot because of the chile. That, plus strawberry. I know to a lot of you this may be a little out there but it is crazy good and I'll be playing with the choco+chile combos in the near future. Dark chocolate and ancho chile is sure to be an amazing combo.

11 1/2 oz bag Ghirardelli or other quality milk chocolate chips

1 1/2 T shortening

strawberries

2 T cascabel or other milder chile peppers

Oysters Madison

I hate to admit when I'm wrong. Here it goes, I was wrong about seafood. For almost 30 years I was sure I hated it. In the past year I've probably consumed more seafood than I have in the past 3 decades. Turns out sushi is good and apparently I think shellfish is pretty amazing when done correctly.

So in my never ending battle to keep from cooking the same things over and over I thought I would give something new a try. Up until now I've never made oysters nor have I ever tried them. There is something about shellfish that had me grossed out. To me it always looked like something you would only eat if you were dared to and not cuz you wanted to. After eating this, my opinion has been changed and once again I've gone the way of the pig and want to stuff my face with them.

I thought I did a fairly good job opening these suckers. No major cuts to my hand but I did get a few small ones in my thumb. My fault though. Don't be dumb like me; use a towel to hold them. To get them open I used a butter knife. Slide it in the back of the oyster where it hinges and work it around to get it open. When you have it open slide your knife under the oyster to separate it from the muscle holding it to the shell.

 Here's what I'm talking about. When I took this pic I was thinking "Ick. This looks gross." Now I want to slurp that mess up. So after you open the oysters put them and their juice in a bowl. Pick them up and shake them around a bit to get any grit off them and set them aside.  Sauté the shallot in 1 tablespoon of butter until soft and then slowly pour the oyster juice in the pan being careful not pour out any of the small pieces of shell and grit. Let the liquid lightly simmer and reduce by half. At this point I took the liquid off the heat to cool while I did the spinach.

I'm spaced taking pics of the spinach so just use your imagination. I heated the oil in a large sauté pan and through in the spinach, garlic and ginger with a little salt and pepper. Cooked it down for about five minutes or so and boom-done. Back to the Oysters. Now you can put your pan with the oyster liquor and wine back on the heat. I'd say about med-high. This is only going to take 2-3 minutes to cook. While they are cooking take the cooked spinach and put a layer on a plate for the shells to sit on and put a little but in each shell too. By the time you have this done the oysters will probably be ready. They won't be well done but heated through at this point. They are fine to eat raw so please don't overcook them. You'll just end up with tough, chewy oysters. Put an oyster in each shell.

Now, back to the sauce. If I could I would make a batch of this just to drink. The final product is a mix of wine, the ocean and butter. Who could hate it? So crack the heat up and get the liquid boiling and whisk in the butter. The boiling will emulsify the butter, wine and oyster juice making a creamy sauce for your oysters. This won't take long. Once the butter is melted its done. Spoon that sauce over each of the oysters to fill them.





Look at the bottom right oyster in the last pic. See the goofy looking part that’s separated? That's the mantle. Raw, the mantle will fall on itself. It a good indicator that they are done when they stay separated.

One last thing I forgot to add before I posted this. After you clean up your shells put them in the oven the heat up before you use them. They'll help keep your food warm longer.

12 oysters and their liquor

1 C dry white wine

1 T unsalted butter

1 shallot

1 6oz bag of baby spinach

1 T chopped garlic

1 T chopped ginger

2 T unsalted butter

soft pretzel sticks

I've been a bit busy this week so I haven't had much play time in the kitchen. The boss did send me a couple recipes she found and I gave this one a try today. I wanted to get another Super Bowl idea out there for everyone and if this one failed I was going to do chicken wing recipe but that will have to wait.

I just finished stuffing my face with these and we even got my oldest to try it. I think that's my new test for recipes. If my daughter will eat it has to be good. The boss and I had ours with store bought sweet and hot honey mustard but they would go nicely with a little cheese sauce. Buffalo chicken dip seems to be all the rage and dipping these in some of that business would be amazing. I didn't take any prep pics this time around due to the chaos in this house. Not much to see anyways it would look just like this.

This pig woke up just in time to get them while they were still warm. He was pleased. Instead of typing it out here is the link to the recipe I used. I didn't really deviate from the recipe since I rarely bake and making pretzels was a first for me. I didn't have any Maldon salt so I used Kosher and it worked just fine. One thing I noticed when I was making kneading the dough was that I had at least a 1/4 cup left over flour. Weighing is a more accurate way to measure so I assume that's why there was so much left. When you make yours just incorporate as much as you can without making your dough too dry.

These will keep so make them a day ahead if you want. They are good at room temp but if you want to reheat throw them in the oven for a few minutes to warm back up.

I couldn't resist making one like this