Friday Food: Fish Delish

It's been quite some time since we've eaten fish. I'd been having a hankering for some too. So, I bought a nice big halibut fillet for tonight's dinner. Max and I prepared dinner together, something we enjoy doing but don't get a chance to do very often. We cracked open a tasty bottle of sake, toasted to good times and got to work. Max made a scrumptious side of soba noodles with a "Max Concoction Sauce", can't really tell you exactly what went into it....it was a combo of soy sauce, mirin, sesame seed oil and lemon.

I made this Roasted Halibut with Walnut Crust that was absolutely heavenly. I found the recipe over at epicurious.com one of my favorite online recipe sights. If you're ever at a loss for what to cook, this is a great sight to check out. You can type in your main ingredient and a great deal of recipes will magically appear for your picking. Most of the recipes are rated by users along with reviews of the recipe and more often than not, there will be a photo of the dish as well (something I always enjoy, I like to see what it's suppose to look like). This recipe definitely deserved the 4 fork rating, it was simple, quick and delish! If you're having a hankering for fish as I was, this is a good one...enjoy!

Friday Food- A Quick One

When you don't have very much time but want a hot meal and you don't want a lot of dirty dishes to clean up afterward, how about trying a casserole. Here's a quick and yummy one - Chicken Tamale Casserole

Ingredients
1 cup of preshredded Mexican blend cheese
1/3 cup low fat milk
1 egg
1 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp ground rep pepper such as New Mexico chile
1 can cream-style corn (14 3/4 oz)
1 small box of corn muffin mix ( I use the Jiffy 8.5 oz size)
1 can chopped green chiles, drained (4oz)
1 can red enchilada sauce (10 oz)
2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast
sour cream
cilantro
cooking spray

Prep:
1. preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. in a large bowl mix just until moist, 1/4 cup of the cheese with the next 7 ingredients (up to chiles). Pour into a 13 x 9 inch baking dish that has been coated with cooking spray.


3. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, Then pierce entire surface with fork.

4. Pour enchilada sauce over top. Top with chicken, sprinkle with remaining 3/4 cup cheese.
5. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes . Remove from oven and let stand for 5 minutes.
Ready to serve with a dollop of sour cream and some cilantro sprinkled on top.

It's also possible to make this without chicken. You can substitute the chicken with black beans and that would be delicious too. You can serve this with a side salad and whaaaa lhaaa a yum fulfilling meal with leftovers for tomorrows lunch. My boys won't eat this so I usually make them chicken quesadillas while the adults enjoys this yummy dish.

Quick Dinner Salvadoran Style

Another quick dinner that's kid friendly, for those nights you just don't feel like cooking. I picked up these great cheese pupusas by Casa Sanchez at Costco but I imagine they must have them at other grocery stores as well. They're all natural with no preservatives which was a selling point for me. These were easily warmed up on a dry grill. These got the two kid ok, Aidan would prefer to eat left over pizza of course. I bet had there not been left over pizza he would have eaten it as well.

For adults (since my kids won't eat most veges) I made a "curtido" which is a traditional Salvadoran cabbage salad to serve with these. A quick and simple recipe:

1/2 head of cabbage chopped in fine strips
2 medium carrots peeled and shredded
2 jalapenos seeded and minced
3 radishes minced
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
4 cups of boiling water

In a glass bowl, I added 4 cups of boiling water to cabbage and carrots and let sit covered for approximately 5 minutes. Then I drained it and mixed with the rest of the ingredients and chilled for approximately 15 minutes. That's all there is to it. Delicious served over pupusas.