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Apr 3 2013

Fish Tacos with Avocado Cabbage Slaw

Posted by whatsgabycooking in Step-by-Step Recipes

Who doesn’t like fish tacos? They are the best meal for those gorgeous sunny spring and summer days. Add in some cabbage slaw doused with an avocado crema and some salsa and I seriously don’t think you can go wrong. If you’re into having a cerveza, then pour one and call it a day!

These flaky Fish Tacos with Avocado Cabbage Slaw from TK member The Culinary Chronicles are totally to die for. I made them twice this week and both times they were excellent!

Okay, here’s what to do. First we are going to torch some tortillas, which means you need to turn on your burner.

Place a small corn tortilla over the open flame for a few seconds

And then give it a flip to toast the other side for a few seconds more. Repeat this process with all the tortillas and then wrap them in a clean kitchen towel and set them aside.

Next we’re going to put some avocado in a blender …

Followed by some crema or sour cream. I only had sour cream on hand and let me tell you, it’s pure perfection.

Throw in some fresh cilantro and jalapeño pepper …

Followed by some agave nectar just to give it a hint of sweetness.

Blend it until everything is smooth and then remove the avocado crema to a bowl.

I just used some pre-shredded cabbage from Trader Joe’s, but if you shred your own, just go ahead and shred it and place it into a big bowl.

Add in a few spoonfuls of the avocado crema. Reserve some crema for later but be sure to add enough to give all the cabbage a good coating.

Toss it all together and season it with salt and pepper as needed.

Alright let’s move onto the fish. Season some white fish of your choice with some lime zest.

Then add in some red pepper flakes, followed by ground cumin and some garlic powder. You could use fresh garlic too, but I was concerned about the garlic burning when I broiled the fish so I opted for the powder.

Lastly, let’s add on some chopped cilantro.

Throw the fish in the fridge to marinate for a few minutes and then transfer it to a parchment-lined baking sheet and season it with salt and pepper. I used the juice of 1 lime to juice on top of the fish and then drizzled a touch of olive oil on top. Into the oven it goes on broil for a few minutes on each side until the fish can easily be flaked apart.

And now you’re in the home stretch. Just assemble the tacos with the cabbage slaw, flaked fish, extra avocado crema and some salsa! Serve it up and enjoy.

A big giant avocado-filled thank you to Nam of the amazing blog The Culinary Chronicles for giving us another amazing recipe featuring avocado! These tacos are a winner and you will totally dig them!

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Fish Tacos with Avocado-Cabbage Slaw

by Nam | The Culinary Chronicles on March 20, 2013 in Fish, Main Courses

See post on Nam | The Culinary Chronicles’s site!

5.00 Mitt(s) 1 Rating(s) 1 vote, average: 5.00 out of 5

Description

Fish tacos with a creamy avocado-cabbage slaw.

Ingredients

½ pounds Firm White Fish Fillets, Such As Cod Or Tilapia
2 cloves Garlic, Finely Minced
1 teaspoon Lime Zest
2 Tablespoons Chopped Cilantro, Plus More For Garnish
¼ teaspoons Red Pepper Flakes
2 pinches Ground Cumin
2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
Kosher Salt And Pepper To Taste
4 whole Corn Or Flour Tortillas
1 cup Chunky Salsa
Lime Wedges
FOR THE SLAW:
1 cup Ripe Avocado, Diced
¼ cups Mexican Crema, Or Sour Cream
¼ cups Fresh Cilantro, Chopped
½ whole Jalapeno Pepper, Finely Diced And Seeded
1 Tablespoon Lime Juice
½ Tablespoons Agave Or Honey
Kosher Salt And Pepper To Taste
2 cups Shredded Cabbage

Preparation Instructions

In a shallow dish, coat the fish with garlic, lime zest, cilantro, red pepper flakes, cumin, and oil. Season with kosher salt and pepper. Allow to marinate for 20 minutes in the refrigerator.

For the slaw, in a blender, puree the avocado, crema, cilantro, jalapeno pepper, lime juice and agave until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. In a large bowl, toss the cabbage with a few spoonfuls of the avocado puree until lightly coated. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

Preheat the oven broiler and arrange the marinated fish on a baking sheet. Place the baking sheet a few inches away from the broiler, and broil the fish for 2-3 minutes on each side or until the fish becomes opaque and flakes easily with a fork.

Warm the tortillas. Divide the fish, salsa and slaw amongst the tortillas. Sprinkle each taco with the extra chopped cilantro and serve warm with lime wedges on the side.

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Gaby Dalkin is the young lady behind What’s Gaby Cooking, a food blog that’s bursting at the seams with incredible recipes and food photography. She’s a personal chef and professional recipe developer, and if you follow her on Twitter, you’ll soon discover her two-fold obsession: guacamole and cheese. She has small feet, a large heart, and a smile that can light up the whole building. We’re pretty stoked to have her here.

Apr 22 2013

Vietnamese Summer Roll Salad

Posted by Faith (An Edible Mosaic) in Step-by-Step Recipes

Even though I’m a winter-loving girl, I’m secretly longing for summer’s arrival. Which is pretty much blasphemy around these parts; I’m in snow-country, just about as north as a girl can go. Although spring has just arrived, I’m ready to welcome summer. In fact, I’ll take summer in any form I can get.

Even roll form.

Summer rolls have always been a favorite of mine: Fresh, bright-flavored veggies, perfectly cooked shrimp, and chewy noodles, all wrapped up in a pretty little rice paper package. Add a great dipping sauce and what more could anyone want, right? (Because sauces not only make food more flavorful, but they also make eating more fun…that’s what my niece says and I’m inclined to agree!) When I first saw Vicky’s recipe for Vietnamese Summer Roll Salad, I couldn’t wait to make it.

Summer rolls are great, but this salad is fantastic. Why not turn a starter into a complete meal?

Start by getting out all your ingredients.

You’ll need bean thread noodles, honey, coconut oil, rice vinegar, fish sauce, fresh herbs (basil, mint, and cilantro), shrimp, cucumber, shallot, carrot, lime, ginger, bean sprouts, peanuts, and red chilies. For the life of me, I couldn’t find red chilies and I didn’t have time to make the 30-minute drive to the closest Asian grocery in my area (strangely enough, I don’t live in the middle of nowhere—we just need better grocery stores nearby!), so I used crushed red pepper flakes.

Because they’re so purty, here’s a close-up of the bean thread noodles. You might also find them called cellophane noodles or glass noodles. I found these in the international aisle of my regular grocery store.

Now for a little prep work.

Thinly slice the shallots.

Julienne the carrots by trimming off the ends and cutting them each into 2 to 3-inch pieces; cut each piece lengthwise into planks, then cut each plank lengthwise again into thin sticks. It sounds complicated but it’s not, and once you get into it, it goes pretty fast. (If you want, you can peel your carrot before you start cutting it; I always give my carrots a good scrub but leave the peel on.)

Julienne the cucumber the same way.

Grate the ginger. I like to use a microplane for this, and I keep my ginger in the freezer so it grates up easily.

Smash the peanuts. You can keep chop them by hand until they’re as finely chopped as you like, or use a food processor (but be careful you don’t end up with peanut flour or nut butter if you use your processor). If you’re like me and cleaning your food processor is the bane of your existence, know that this is really easy to do by hand. And heads up, I chopped up extra peanuts (around 3 tablespoons) to serve alongside the salad so people could add more on top if they wanted.

Whisk up the dressing: fish sauce, rice vinegar, ginger, red chilies (I used about 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes instead; you can use more or less to taste), and honey. There was quite a bit of extra dressing pooled in the bottom so next time I’ll make a little less; I’m planning to decrease both the rice vinegar and fish sauce to 1/2 cup, and also add 2 tablespoons of soy sauce for even more depth of flavor.

Cook the noodles following what it says to on the package directions—but be careful not to overcook them! I soaked my noodles in warm water for about 10 to 15 minutes, then drained them in a colander and rinsed them under cold running water.

Add the coconut oil to a medium pan over medium-high heat. Once melted, add the shallot and cook until it starts to brown in spots. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the browned shallot to a paper towel-lined plate. (Thank you, Vicky, for reminding us of that trick! I don’t always remember to do that, but shhhh, don’t tell.)

Add the shrimp to the pan and cook until it turns completely pink, about 3 to 4 minutes.

The recipe calls for 1/2 pound of shrimp, but if you’re getting it without the shell/vein/tail removed I recommend getting about 2/3 to 3/4 of a pound to account for the lost weight when you clean your shrimp. Heck, I love shrimp so much in here I think next time I’ll increase it to a full 1 pound either way.

Now for the fun part: Add everything to a large bowl (be sure you don’t forget the fresh herbs—I almost did!) and give it all a good toss. This makes a lot of salad. That’s a 4-quart bowl in the photo!

Put the salad into pretty individual bowls to serve it up. Don’t forget the fresh lime wedges to squeeze on top, and remember, I chopped up extra peanuts to serve alongside so people can add more as they want. Gorgeous, isn’t it?

Thank you to Vicky for sharing a fantastic recipe with us! Be sure to check out Vicky’s beautiful blog Avocado Pesto for what she calls a “smorgasbord of ethnic cuisines” (I love that description!). Also, a big thank you to Running with Tweezers for the original inspiration for this recipe!

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