Fish Taco Friday

Ash Wednesday was last week, which marks the beginning of Lent (the 40 days before Easter). Fat Tuesday is always the day before Ash Wednesday, and has been a day of partying and excess for centuries. Because traditionally people give up things for Lent, they used Fat Tuesday as the day to eat all of their eggs, butter, sweets, alcohol, and anything else that they wouldn't be eating again until Easter. Hence how Mardi Gras began (Mardi Gras means "Fat Tuesday" in French).

All decked out for Mardi Gras!

Now we didn't go to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, but we did mark the beginning of Lent. Although I wouldn't describe ourselves as ultra-religious, we did go to church on Ash Wednesday, and Derek is giving something up for Lent this year. I haven't chosen to give anything up, but I've given myself the challenge of no-meat Fridays.

Typically a Catholic tradition, eating fish on Fridays is an interesting culinary challenge for me. We enjoy fish on occasion, but it isn't completely in my comfort zone of cooking (that mostly falls in the dessert category). So for the first Friday of Lent, rather than just cook a potentially boring filet of white fish, I decided to push my limits and attempt fish tacos. I'm happy to say that the results were pretty good.

To cook the fish, I took a couple of filets of tilapia and marinated them in olive oil, lemon juice, and freshly minced garlic for approximately 20 minutes. I then cooked them in a skillet over medium heat for about 3 minutes per side. Since I was going to flake the fish up for the tacos anyway, I could test whether the fish was done by testing the flakiness with a fork right there in the pan. So it was done when my fork easily flaked the fish into pieces.

Addison loves the park,
more than fish tacos

Starting with two soft corn tortillas, I put down a small bed of lettuce (you can also use cabbage). I put the flaked fish onto the lettuce and then added a homemade pico de gallo (freshly diced onions, green bell peppers, tomatoes, with lemon juice and garlic). I topped the whole thing with a great fish taco sauce that I found here (I've repeated the recipe below, and am super excited to try more recipes from her blog). A little bit of fresh chopped cilantro and some sliced avocado on the side, and th dish was complete! Overall, I would say that the entire dish was pretty easy to make and turned out very tasty. I'd recommend it to anyone; especially that fish taco sauce.

Fish Taco Sauce
1/2 cup Greek yogurt (you can also use sour cream)
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 lime, cut in half
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground paprika (you can also use chipotle chili powder, but I didn't have any on hand)
1/2 teaspoon capers, minced
1 jalapeño, seeded and diced
1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, chopped

1. In a small bowl, whisk the yogurt and mayonnaise until well blended.

2. Squeeze the juice from one lime half into the mayo mixture, then whisk thoroughly. You’ll want the consistency of a pourable, creamy salad dressing. If still too thick, add more lime juice from the other half. If too runny, add more yogurt.

3. Add all of the spices, whisking to mix thoroughly. Add the capers, minced jalapeño and cilantro, and whisk thoroughly.

4. Cover the bowl with wrap and refrigerate the sauce for at least one hour — the longer the better.

5. Serve chilled. Spoon white sauce over fish tacos, or add into taco salads or rice bowls.

Bottles and Drapes and Sniffles... Oh My!

Well, it's flu season, and with a little one around who puts everything in her mouth, it's amazing we haven't gotten sick more. But taking care of a 13-month old while feeling under the weather, even if it was just a bad cold, is a lot of work. I am thankful that I'm lucky enough to stay home so I don't have to deal with calling in sick to work, but it's still tough to work up energy to play with Addison when all I really want to do is sleep.

Thankfully, Addison has been in a great mood lately. Let's hope she doesn't get sick too! Unfortunately the weather hasn't been quite so nice, so we've been inside more. But that means that the house is coming together - the drapes I've sewn are up along the front windows, and paint samples are on multiple walls. I can't wait to say goodbye to the faded olive green walls in the living room, dining room, hallway, and master suite. I know it will be slow going (painting is a one-person job while the other plays "corral the kid"), but it will make such a difference once we get it all done.

And Derek has even found time to brew some beer. Slowly the beer laws in Alabama (or Huntsville specifically) are changing, and that means that new breweries and brewpubs are cropping up. We're very excited to be part of this budding culture, and Derek has taken the chance to jump in himself. Last weekend we had friends over and bottled the Irish Red that Derek brewed a few weeks ago. It was fun to watch and will be even more fun to drink. They say that it has to be in the bottles for a week or two before it is done. I think we may open a bottle tonight to see if it's ready - crossing my fingers!

In the spirit of all our projects and adventures in trying new things, I'm posting a salad recipe that Derek found somewhere. Now I'm not a big fan of blue cheese, but this salad is delicious!

Bread Salad
1 cup French bread cubes
1 cup cubed tomatoes
1/3 cup blue cheese crumbles
1/3 cup pine nuts < Extra virgin olive oil
balsamic vinegar
fresh basil

Toast the pine nuts until golden brown. Toast bread cubes as well. Combine homemade breadcrumbs with pine nuts, blue cheese, tomatoes and mix. Cut basil into ribbons and add to salad. Toss with olive oil and vinegar to taste. Enjoy!

Superbowl shmuperbowl

You might already know this, but around here football is more than just something to watch on a rainy Sunday afternoon. It's almost a way of life. People have extremely strong feelings about their team of choice, letting everyone know through their car color, license plates, flags on their houses, not to mention clothes and hats and stickers. I can't count how many times I've been asked who my team is.
                                     

Oh, did I mention that this fervent love of football applies to college ball only? Perhaps it's because there are no professional football teams in the state of Alabama (nor is there a pro basketball or baseball team either), or it's just a regional thing, I'm not sure. Regardless of the why, the fact is that pro football is not that big a deal around here. So, the Superbowl was not a huge event either.

Now we aren't huge football fanatics (although I almost won my fantasy league this year), but I enjoy the tradition of eating junk food and watching the commercials. So after a day of doing non-football related things like going to church, playing at the park, visiting with friends, etc, we ate dinner and settled down to watch the Superbowl from our nice new TV on our nice new couch. Yes, thanks to being in the central time zone, kickoff wasn't until around 6pm. With our DVR starting slightly before us, we had a chance to eat some homemade buffalo wings beforehand (the recipe is below). Even Addison got to watch the beginning, although she by far preferred playing in the den to watching what was on the TV screen. (I caught one photo of her watching the TV though).

Overall, I thought we had a great Superbowl Sunday, and I am pretty proud of how the wings turned out considering I've never tried to cook wings before. Sure, there are almost as many wings places around here as there are barbeque places, but it's still nice to be able to make them yourself. And it doesn't hurt that Star Market in Five Points is supposedly the best butcher counter in town. So here is the recipe if you're feeling up for trying out wings.


Buffalo Wings
12 whole chicken wings
flour
paprika
salt
Oil for frying
6 Tbsp butter, melted
1 or 2 cloves garlic, minced
1/8 to 1/4 cup hot sauce

Heat approx 1/2 inch of oil in a skillet on medium heat. Using chicken shears or a sharp knife, trim the wing tips off your chicken wings and separate the drum sticks from the wings. Mix flour with paprika and salt to taste. Dredge the drumsticks and wings in the flour mixture and then put in skillet. Fry until golden brown, then flip (approx 5 minutes). Once outer shell is golden brown, set on roasting pan in a cookie sheet and put in oven set to 350 degrees to finish cooking.
Meanwhile, melt the butter, and whisk in minced garlic. Add hot sauce to taste. Put mixture in a large bowl, and add wings. Toss to cover. Serve. Enjoy!