by zan@zeliciousrecipes.com | Fish, Sauces, TOP Five
Well, after experimenting with different ways to use Open Blue’s Cobia (aka Black Kingfish), I decided to create a new fish taco recipe. After spending 10 days in Mexico with my family, I really felt like I had tasted ample local flavor, in order to attempt to create something that my family would be proud of… and the verdict was… “This is, by far, the best fish tacos I have EVER had”, a direct quote from my foodie (a try food snob) 16-year-old son! Wahoo!!! It truly warmed my heart. Well, so here it goes:
Cobia Fish Marinade*:
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ancho chile powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 cup lightly packed fresh cilantro leaves, chopped, plus more for garnish
- 1 pound of Cobia (black kingfish) cut into 4 pieces
- Salt
- 2 limes cut into quarters
Pickled Onions:
- 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
- About 1 1/2 cups red wine vinegar
Tacos shells:
- 8 fresh corn tortillas (We love the brand Mariposa)
- 2 cups of canola oil
Avocado Crema:
- 2 avocados
- ½ Tsp salt
- ¼ cup cilantro leaves
- ½ cup sour cream
Pico De Gallo:
- 1 ⅓ cup of chopped tomatoes
- 1 chopped green chili
- juice of ½ lime
- ¼ Tsp salt
- 1 tbsp chopped cilantro
- 2 tbsp chopped red onion
- 2 tbsp seeded and minced jalapeño (optional)
Bean and Corn Salsa:
- 1 cup of sweet corn (organic canned)
- 1 cup black beans (organic)
- juice of ½ lime
- 1 tbsp cilantro
- ¼ Tsp salt
Preparation:
Marinate the Onion: Put the onion in a small bowl and pour in enough red wine vinegar to cover well. Set aside for at least 30 minutes or up to several weeks.
Marinate the Fish: Pour the olive oil into a small bowl and add the ancho chile powder, cumin, and chopped cilantro. Mix well. Place the fish in a plastic bag and pour the marinade over it, making sure to massage and coat the fish well on all sides. Allow marinating for at least 20 minutes. I marinated mine for 2 hours.
Avocado Crema: In a food processor, add the avocados, salt, and cilantro. Puree until smooth. Remove from food processor and stir in the sour cream.
Pico De Gallo/Salsa: For both the Pico De Gallo and the Bean salsa. Mix all of the ingredients together. (I kept them separated).
Cook the Fish: Heat a nonstick sauté pan over medium-high heat. Remove the fish from the marinade and place in the hot pan (there is no need to add more oil). Season the fish with salt. Cook the fish for 4 minutes undisturbed, then turn over, and cook for another 2 minutes or until cooked through and opaque. Remove the pan from the heat and flake the fish into the pan with a fork, making sure to mix in all the marinade that has stuck to the bottom of the pan. Check for seasoning and add more salt if necessary. Set aside.
Make the Tortillas Tacos Shells: In a large deep pot, add the oil and cook on medium-high. One by one, place the corn tortillas into the oil, flip over after 10 seconds and make sure both sides start to puff up and brown, crease the middle and bend the tortillas in half, and submerge them until they are crisp. Place them on a paper towel lined plate. Repeat with the remaining tortillas.
Assemble and Serve: To assemble the tacos, place a heaping spoonful of the marinated flaked fish onto the center of a tortilla, add a squeeze of lime. Top with the both the Pico del Gallo and the bean salsa, and marinated onions. Serve with a dollop of avocado crema and cilantro.
*Inspiration from a fish taco marinade I found on Epicurious – made some modifications to the ingredients – the rest of the ingredients are my creation.
by zan@zeliciousrecipes.com | Meats, Paleo
I once again found inspiration for this dish from the Flavor Bible, by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg. I wanted to combine ingredients that were unusual but had a good balance of flavors, and paired nicely together. So this dish has a little bit of everything, sweet, sour and salty. My husband Dan and foodie-son Lucas said I could add it to my Top Five! It was a proud moment!
Hopefully, this list of ingredients is not too daunting. 😉
Avocado Cream:
- 2 ripe avocados
- 1 tbsp fresh cilantro (no stems)
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 2 tsp fresh squeezed lime juice
- 1/2 Tsp salt
- 3/4 cup Creme Fraiche
Sweet potato toast:
- 1 large sweet potato (sliced with cheese slicer)
- olive oil
- salt
Pork Tenderloin:
- 1 pork tenderloin (approximately 1 lb.)
- 2 tsp rock salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp chopped cilantro
Black Beans:
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1/2 yellow onion chopped
- 1 can of organic Black Beans
- 2 cloves of garlic
- salt to taste
Caramelized Onions:
- 2 onions sliced in rings
- 2 tbsp butter
- salt to taste
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. First, you want to bake the sweet potato toast. Cover sweet potato slices in olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Place in the oven on a baking sheet and cook until slightly browned approximately 20 minutes. Meanwhile, for the pork loin, melt butter in an iron skillet (oven safe) on medium high heat, add salt and pepper to the loin roast, and sear the pork on all sides. Once it is nicely browned, place the pork into the oven, next to potatoes and cook for approximately 20 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 135-140 degrees (for medium rare). You can then caramelize the onions, in a skillet with butter, stirring occasionally, until onions are browned and sweet. Next, in a saucepan, add the butter, once melted add the onions and garlic and cook over medium heat. Make sure not to brown the garlic. Add in the beans with the liquid and cook down the beans for 15 minutes. Next, you can make the avocado cream. Place the avocados into a food processor, or blender and add the oil, lime, salt, and cilantro. Puree until smooth. Remove from food processor and fold in the Créme Fraîche.
Now you are ready for assembly. Place 2 spoonfuls of Avocado Creme on each plate in a long smear. Add to pieces of Sweet Potato toast, then the beans, followed by the pork and caramelized onions, and finally sprinkle with the chopped cilantro. Serves 4. Enjoy!
by zan@zeliciousrecipes.com | Meats, Sandwiches
My son was bored with the typical “Ham and Cheese” sandwich, so I stepped it up a bit. I used our leftover lamb tenderloin fillet, which was cooked medium rare and had a silky smooth texture, to make his sandwich. I combined some whipped ricotta cheese with salt, olive oil and chopped mint as the dressing, and added a few caramelized red onions for a little-added sweetness.
Ingredients:
- 2 pieces of toasted sourdough bread
- 6 slices of lamb tenderloin
- 1/4 cup whipped ricotta
- 1 tbsp chopped mint
- 1/3 cup caramelized onions
- salt to taste
- a drizzle of olive oil
Directions: Mix the ricotta with the chopped mint, add a dash of salt and a drizzle of olive oil. Spread ricotta dressing onto the toast. Add the cooked lamb tenderloin and caramelized onions. Drizzle a little more oil on top of the sandwich. Serve with love!
by zan@zeliciousrecipes.com | Appetizers, Vegetables
I was slacking off in the kitchen for a while, and I can tell my husband was really looking for something new in our culinary lives, so I whipped up his favorite type of greens (or rather yellow ;-). Endives! I personally think they are a little bitter, so I added some balsamic reduction, a little sweetness to balance it. In addition, the stinky gorgonzola “paired” really well with the sweet pears. And for a little crunch, I added in the chopped walnuts. This is a super easy and simple appetizer to make, as long as you’ve made the balsamic reduction ahead of time. (Click here for that recipe). Enjoy!
This only took a couple of minutes to throw together. Using the Endive as the serving utensil, you can scoop up the ingredients for a single bite, without the double-dipping.
Ingredients: (for 2 servings)
- 1 head of endives (10-12 leaves)
- 2 tbsp gorgonzola
- 1 tbsp goat cheese crumbles
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
- 1 bosc pear (cubed)
- a drizzle of balsamic reduction
Mix all above ingredients in a bowl, except for the endives. Place the endive leaves on a plate, and add the mixture into the center, then drizzle with the balsamic reduction.
by zan@zeliciousrecipes.com | CrockPot, Favorite Recipes, Meats, Paleo, Sauces
For approximately a year now, I’ve been volunteering for an amazing organization here in Boulder, called There With Care. There With Care’s mission is to provide a wide range of thoughtful and fundamental services to children and families during the critical phase of a medical crisis. They serve families referred by medical agencies, by building a network of services and people who ease the burden of life’s day-to-day obligations with compassion and care. I have been working on There With Care’s Team Chop, where we prep simple, healthy, and easy to cook CrockPot meals for each of the families. It has been an amazing organization to work for. We have an incredile team of people on our team, dedicating their time once a week to help eleviate some of the burden these families are facing.
So, after a year of working with Team Chop, I finally bought myself a slow-cooker (CrockPot). It has been fun experimenting with some new recipes. One of which was another creation by my foodie-17-year-old. Takes a total of 10 minutes to prep, and has very few ingredients. I hope you enjoy this as much as we did.
Ingredients:
- 3 lb pork shoulder
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp oil
- 8 tomatillos – quartered
- 2 jalapenos – (remove seeds for less spice – chop into large chunks)
- 1 onion – large chunks
- 4 garlic cloves – quartered
- salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut the pork shoulder into 1 inch pieces, sprinkle with salt and pepper. In an iron skillet on high heat, add 1 tbsp of butter and add half of the pork, making sure not to crowd the pan. Braise each piece so they are nice and brown, and crispy. Repeat with the second batch of meat. Set aside. Meanwhile, toss the tomatillos, jalapenos, onion, and garlic in the oil. Salt, then place onto a baking sheet and roast them, until they start to brown slightly, apprximately 10 minutes. Remove from oven, and place ingredients into a food processor or blender. Salt to taste. Place the meat into the crockpot and pour the pureed mixture ontop. Cook on low heat for 6 hours. Serve with rice, and black beans with sour cream.
by zan@zeliciousrecipes.com | Favorite Recipes, Fish
I cherish every minute I get to spend with my 17-year-old son, especially in the kitchen. He is so brutally honest when it comes to critiquing my food that it has made me a better cook. (He actually could be an amazing professional food critic). I have to credit him with this creation, I was just the executor! Searing the tuna took about 6 minutes, but the prep for the sauces was a little more labor intensive. Be sure to let the fish sit out at room temperature for about an hour, as you will only be searing the outside of the fish, inside will remain rare, and you don’t want the inside of the fish to be cold.
Ingredients for Soy Reduction:
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 4 tbsp of rice wine vinegar
- 2 tsp chopped garlic
- 2 tsp chopped ginger
Ingredients for Wasabi Crème Fraîche:
- 1 cup Crème Fraîche
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 3 tsp wasabi paste (use less if you do not want it too spicy)
- salt to taste
Ingredients for Tuna:
- 2 tbsp of toasted sesame oil
- 1 tbsp of chopped garlic
- 1 tbsp of pureed ginger
- 4 – 6 oz pieces of Tuna
- salt
Directions for Soy Reduction:
Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan, medium heat, cook down until sauce reduces it becomes thick and syrupy. Prior to pouring, strain through a sieve to remove the chunks of garlic and ginger. Pour over seared tuna.
Directions for Crème Fraîche:
Stir the Crème Fraîche together with the sour cream and salt. Add in the wasabi, one teaspoon at a time, until you’ve reached your desired potency. Spoon onto each plate. Place tuna on top of the wasabi cream.
Directions for Tuna:
Using an iron skillet, heat the oil, garlic, and ginger on medium heat. Saute until garlic is cooked, but not browned. Remove garlic and ginger with a slotted spoon, leaving any remaining oil in the pan. Increase the heat to high and add the tuna, searing each side. Once you all sides are browned, remove the fish and place onto the wasabi cream, then drizzle the soy reduction, and garnish with cooked garlic and ginger. Serves 4 people. Paired nicely with sushi rice.
