Fish Tacos

This summer I am looking forward to my dear friends Kelly and Tim returning and introducing me to the wonderful world of fish tacos. I have never had a fish taco, but I love fish and I love tacos and putting the two together sounds pretty damn good. See the email Kel sent me below:

I really really really want you to get into fish tacos. God they are good. This site goes into a lot of detail with actually making the tortilla, but good explanation of them: http://www.thepauperedchef.com/2006/06/baja_fish_tacos.html

"On an elemental level, the fish taco can be reduced to a very simple equation: Fish + Tortilla = Fish Taco.

From this perspective, there is little question that people have been eating fish tacos in the coastal areas of Mexico for an awfully long time. It probably goes back thousands of years to when indigenous North American peoples first wrapped the plentiful offshore catch into stone-ground-corn tortillas.

More recently, somewhere in Baja California, sometime in the last 30 or 40 years, someone concocted what is generally considered to be the prototypical fish taco. According to aficionados - call them the codnoscenti - this humble delicacy consists of a lightly battered mild white fish that is deep-fried, then served in a corn tortilla (often two) with shredded cabbage, a thin sour-cream- or mayonnaise-based sauce, a bit of salsa, and a most vital spritzito of lime."

I think this is a good recipe to start with: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/fish-tacos-recipe/index.html

I usually just make it up... but corriander is the key for me!

MMmmmmmmmmmm!

Chilli Con Carne - ole!

1 tbs peanut oil
1 brown onion, halved, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 Tbs ground cumin
1 Tbs ground coriander
2 tsp cayenne pepper
600g lean beef mince
1 x 400g can Italian diced tomatoes
2 Tbs tomato paste
1 x 300g can red kidney beans, drained, rinsed
2 Tbs drained, chopped jalapeno chillies
salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 x 250g carton light sour cream
3 green shallots, diagonally thinly sliced
handful of chopped fresh coriander leaves
rice, to serve

Heat oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic and cook for 3 minutes or until onion softens.

Add cumin, coriander and cayenne pepper and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.

Add mince and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon to break up any lumps, for 5 minutes or until it changes colour.

Stir in tomato, tomato paste and kidney beans. Reduce heat to medium and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes or until mixture thickens.

Remove from heat and stir in chilli. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, combine the sour cream, three-quarters of the green shallots and the coriander leaves in a small bowl. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

Spoon rice and then chilli con carne into bowls. Top with a dollop of the sour cream mixture. Sprinkle with remaining green shallots. Serve immediately.

Grublover comment
I just love chilli con carne. Good, warm, comfort food, and so delicious! You can serve it in baked potatoes for something different - like the stuffed spud that keeps me going back to the Royal Show every year....
This is a really easy recipe and you can whip it up quickly for a weeknight meal. It is also very healthy - provided you use lean mince and light sour cream.

The BEST Moussaka

Serves 4-6












3 medium eggplants
1 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
500g minced lamb
1/2 cup red wine
1 Tb tomato paste
1 cup tomato sugo
4 Tb freshly chopped flat leaf parsley
2 Tb lemon thyme
zest of one lemon, grated
1/2 inch piece of cinnamon, pounded
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Cheese Sauce
50g unsalted butter
50g plain flour
1 and 1/4 cup full cream milk
1 cup chicken stock
Pinch grated nutmeg
2 Tb grated parmesan
sea salt and freshly ground white pepper

Crust
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1/4 cup fresh breadcrumbs
1/2 Tb chopped lemon thyme
1 Tb preserved lemon, skin only, finely chopped (use zest of one lemon as substitute)

Method
Cut eggplants into thin 1cm slices. Brush slices with oil, season with salt and into the oven at 250 C, or as hot as you can go, for 6-10 minutes or until golden.

Saute onion at moderate heat for 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for a further 5 minutes. Put onion and garlic aside.

Salt and brown meat in batches at a high heat. Make sure it is hot and you don't overload the pan - you don't want to "boil" the meat.

Put all the meat back into the pan, add cinnamon, then the onion and garlic, tomato paste, deglaze with wine at a high temperature.

Turn temperature down and add lemon zest, tomato sugo, parsley, lemon thyme, and simmer for 20 minutes for flavour to combine. It should be quite a dry sauce.

To make the bechamel sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan and sprinkle the flour over it, stirring well to combine. Continue to cook for a little while until the flour colours slightly and loses the raw flavour. Remove from the heat and slowly add the milk, then the stock, whisking continuously to avoid lumps. Return the pot to the heat and continue to cook until thickened - stirring hard until the sauce thickly coats the back of the spoon. Add the nutmeg and seasoning and lay some glad wrap over the sauce so it doesn't form a skin.

Layer the moussaka by first spraying a deep oven proof dish with non-stick cooking spray or evoo. Place a layer of eggplant on the bottom, then a layer of mince. Continue to layer eggplant and mix, finishing with a layer of eggplant. Pour the cheese sauce over the eggplant, then mix the crumb ingredients together and generously sprinkle this over the bechamel.

Bake in a pre-heated 200 degree C oven for half an hour.

Grublover comment
This recipe is from the Cook and the Chef. It is like a Greek lasagne and is absolutely delicious. The cinnamon, nutmeg, and lemon flavours are very important so don't skip these ingredients. Delicious.

Seafood Stew

Serves 6










3 tablespoons good olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onions (2 small)
2 cups large-diced small white potatoes
2 cups chopped fennel (1 large bulb)
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 cups good white wine
1 (28 ounce) can plum tomatoes, chopped
1 quart Seafood Stock (recipe follows) or store-bought fish stock
1 tablespoon chopped garlic (3 cloves)
1 teaspoon saffron threads
1 pound large shrimp, shelled and deveined (use the shells for the stock)
1 pound each halibut and bass fillets, cut in large chunks
24 mussels, cleaned
3 tablespoons Pernod
1 teaspoon grated orange zest
Toasted baguette slices, buttered and rubbed with garlic

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or stockpot, add the onions, potatoes, fennel, salt, and pepper, and sauté over medium - low heat for 15 minutes, until the onions begin to brown. Add the wine and scrape up the brown bits with a wooden spoon. Add the tomatoes with their juices, stock, garlic, and saffron to the pot, bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. Add the shrimp, fish, and mussels, bring to a boil, then lower the heat, cover, and cook for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow the pot to sit covered for another 5 minutes. The fish and shrimp should be cooked and the mussels opened. Discard any mussels that don't open. Stir in the Pernod, orange zest, and salt to ¬taste. Serve ladled over one or two slices of toasted baguette.

Grublover comment
I just saw "Barefoot Contessa" cook this on her show. It looked absolutely fantastic and I have to make it! Let me know if you cook it before I do and tell me what it's like... I could almost smell it from the tv mmmmm

Summertime...

I am really excited about this summer.

For me, summer is all about the freshest salads, bursting with flavour; fish; juicy stone fruit; and barbeques, barbeques, barbeques.

I have really been getting into fish, and finding that it is actually not that expensive. Last night I bought myself a nice salmon steak for only $7 (less than the cost of a scotch fillet). I sprayed the flat side of my grillet with some olive oil spray, and then chargrilled the salmon and some zucchini rounds. Serve with a fresh rocket salad, drizzled with olive oil and vinegar, and a slice of lemon and da-daaaa you have a restaurant quality meal, at home, for only $7!!!!

Sooooo delicious and so healthy. Love that fish!

Cumin-roasted chicken with red capsicum jam

Serves 4

2 tsp ground cumin
2 and 1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp dried oregano
1 x 1.6kg free-range chicken, quartered
1/4 cup olive oil
2 red onions, peeled and thickly sliced
1/4 cup dry sherry

For the jam
1 onion, finely choped
2 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp ground allspice
3 Tbsp olive oil
3 red capsicums, deseeded and finely diced
1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
2 tbsp soft brown sugar
100ml sherry vinegar
2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup italian parsley, roughly chopped

Preheat oven to 220C.

Mix the ground cumin with the salt and dried oregano and rub into the chicken quarters.

Heat 1/4 cup olive oil in a heavy-based baking tray and brown the chicken with the onion slices.

Pour over the sherry and bake in the oven for 25 minutes.

Fry the chopped onion in 3 Tbsp olive oil with the paprika and allspice until softened. Stir through the capsicum and chilli and fry for 2 minutes before adding the soft brown sugar, sherry vinegar, tinned tomatoes and 1 tsp salt.

Simmer for 15-30 minutes until of a thick and jammy consistency.

Leave the chicken to rest for 5 minutes before serving with teh red capsicum jam, garnished with the roughly chopped Italian parsley.


Grublover comment
This savoury red capsicum jam recipe makes more than enough for one good meal. It would be delicious served with fish or steak.
Mum made this last night and it was absolutely delicious. Serve with a crisp green salad. Yum!
Recipe by Sophie Zalokar.

Baked seafood with coriander and coconut chutney

Serves 4

12 large prawns
1kg fresh mussels
8 scallops
400g firm white fish

Coriander and coconut chutney
115g flakey coconut
2 teaspoons of coriander seeds - roasted and ground
1 garlic clove
2.5 cm ginger
1 green chilli - seeds removed
1 bunch coriander
100ml coconut cream
Juice 1 lime plus wedges to serve

Preheat oven to 200c

Chutney
Process coriander seeds, garlic ginger and salt. Add chilli and blend. Add coconut to blender, 2/3 of fresh coriander and some coconut milk to make a paste. Stir in coconut milk and lime juice. Season to taste.

Make an envelope for each person with 2 layers of baking paper or an inside layer of baking paper and alfoil on the outside (easier to shape). Share the seafood and chutney between the envelopes. Bake for about 10 minutes or until seafood cooked.

Serve in envelopes on large plate with a lip - be careful when opening that the steam does not burn. there will be quite a lot of delicious juice that will have formed.

Garnish with reserved coriander and lime wedges.

This chutney would also be delicious on a whole baked fish or even just mussels alone.

Grublover comment
This recipe was in the October edition of Delicious magazine. Mum made it for us on Thursday night and it was absolutely delicious. Check out the review at: EveonKeane