Fish Tacos

I looooove Mexican food.  I could eat it every single, dingle day.  Many, many years ago I first heard about fish tacos.  Sounded disgusting.  "Tacos are either chicken or beef", I thought.  This was long before they became popular, by the way.  I was listening to my morning radio show, Sarah and Vinnie (in the first round of Sarah & Vinnie, pre Sarah and  No Name days), and Vinnie was talking about Rubio's and their awesome fish tacos.  Sarah mirrored my reaction of "Gross!"  But then she tried them and quickly changed her mind.  About this time, Rubio's opened near my office, so I thought if Sarah could be convinced, maybe I could, too.  And I was, at first bite!  Since then, I've rarely had a taco that wasn't a fish taco.

 My friend Matthew, a pretty accomplished chef, fixed me a fabulous salmon dinner about a week ago, and I promised to return the favor and cook for him.  Having read the blog post about his dinner and seeing that I felt a little intimidated cooking for someone like him, he told me that he wanted to be sure that I cooked for him only if I had fun.  So after thinking of fancy, creative or "wack-a-doo" creations that would impress, I realized he was right; cooking for someone should be fun.  I believe that the energy and mood you cook with goes into your food.  So I wondered.... what food was "fun" for me......and fish tacos, it was!

Of course, I have to try something new (that's really the fun part!)  I made two sauces, one for the rice and one for the slaw.  I wanted a version of my cilantro lime rice, but with a little bit of a kick....so I added chopped jalapeno pepper to it.  For the slaw, a fish taco necessity, I made an avocado cream: avocado, Greek yogurt, lime juice, garlic, white wine vinegar and olive oil.  Soooooo good!  Just toss the shredded cabbage in this avocado cream, and you might not wait for the fish to cook!

On the side, you have to have black beans....mine had diced green chiles, cumin and coriander.  And along with the creamy slaw, I added sliced olives and chopped grape tomatoes (didn't even miss the cheese!) to top the tacos.

As for the fish, I really wanted halibut, but my local market was sorely lacking in its seafood selection (Matthew and I figured it was because of the long holiday weekend....Labor Day is more of a barbeque holiday; the beef selection was faaaaar better).  I ended up with tilapia, but that's not by far my first, second or third choice.  The good thing about tilapia is that it takes on whatever flavor you add to it (in this case, cumin, coriander, chipotle chile powder, salt & pepper), the bad thing is that it's almost impossible to find it from somewhere other than Ecuador or Asia (avoid the Asian; it's usually farmed with no regulations or quality standards).  Salmon would be another great choice, but I'd had a lot of salmon in the past week, so I didn't want to have it again, but you should try that, cuz salmon tacos are fantastic, especially if you can barbeque it.

So I had fun. And I didn't feel intimidated at all (surprisingly), because I felt the whole time that the person I was cooking for was just happy to hang out, enjoy a little wine and was grateful for food that was prepared for him with a good mood and a happy heart.  So think about your mood when you cook for your family and friends.... try to be happy and have fun; it may just come through in your food!

Green Rice

Serves 4

1 cup brown basmati rice

1 bunch cilantro

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded

2 large cloves garlic

Juice of one lime

1 teaspoon grade B maple syrup

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/4 --1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

• Cook rice according to package instructions.
• Meanwhile place cilantro, jalapeno, garlic, lime juice, maple syrup, salt and pepper in the bowl of a food processor and blend until smooth.
• With motor running drizzle in the oil until you reach the consistency you like.
• When rice is cooked, remove from heat, let stand 5 minutes and then stir in sauce.

Avocado Cream

Makes approximately 1 1/2 cups

1 avocado, peeled and pitted

1/2 cup Greek yogurt

Juice of one lime

1 large clove garlic

2 tablespoons white wine vinegar

Salt & pepper to taste

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

• Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.

Yum it up!