Fish Tacos

Fish tacos are the greatest gift Mexico has given the world since chocolate. 

Marinade:
1 lb of fish (cod, mahi, something you can grill)
1 lime, juiced
salt, pepper, Mexican oregano to taste
1-2 tsp chopped fresh cilantro

Marinade the fish for at least 30 mins. grill until fish begins to flake.

What you need to assemble the tacos:

Fish or shrimp
Tomato Tortillas
Guacamole or avocado slices
Chili Cilantro Aioli
Shredded cabbage

You may need to eat them fast or they'll fall apart.

Bolognese Sauce

I was so diligent about taking pics through out the cooking process, but I forgot to take a picture of the finished sauce. It tasted too freakin good, I just wanted to eat it. F--- pictures. I want to enjoy my food. Needless to say I had to make it again just to take pictures.

1 lbs ground beef (I used 15/85)
1 onion
3 large red bell peppers, roasted
5 cloves of garlic
2 Tbsp Oregano, separated
1 tsp thyme
1/4 cup fresh basil finely chopped
1 tsp fennel seeds
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp olive oil, separated
1 14oz can of diced tomatoes
1 6oz can of tomato paste
1 lb of cherry, grape or roma tomatoes, smoked.
 Salt, pepper to taste

In a large pan, heat 1 Tbsp of olive oil. Saute onions until translucent, add garlic. After about a minute, add 1 Tbsp of oregano, thyme, fennel, salt, pepper and heat for 30 seconds, then add beef. Brown beef then remove from heat.

In a slow cooker or Dutch oven, add beef mixture, canned tomatoes, basil, 1 Tbsp oregano and vinegar then put on low heat. In a food processor, puree the red peppers. Add to slow cooker, then add tomatoes, 1 tbsp of olive oil and tomato paste. Cook on high for about 4 hours, stirring occasionally.

Serve over zucchini linguini or spaghetti squash or whatever.

One week later, my kitchen still smelled like Bolognese.

Tomato Tortillas

Looking for a fun food? Are you at a loss for things to do with the plethora of tomatoes in your garden that you must use or preserve before their only fit use is to throw at mimes? Do you have an Excalibur dehydrator? If not, think about it. It's awesome. You want dense tomatoes for this recipe, I recommend heirloom. You don't want to use tomatoes that are too watery.

5 large heirloom tomatoes
1/2 a large onion
1 clove of garlic
dash of mexican oregano
dash of cumin
dash of chili powder (chipotle, cayenne, ancho, whatevere)
dash of smoked paprika
sat, pepper

You don't want to over do it on the spices because this will condense into a highly concentrated tomato leather. Line dehydrator trays with parchment paper or dehydrator liners (The parchment will be harder to peel off, so if you don't have patience, get the reusable liners) In a blender, combine all ingredients. When thoroughly pureed, pour into a 1 cup measuring cup (or 1/2 - 3/4 if you want smaller tortillas) and onto lined dehydrator trays. Spread into circles, about 1/4" thick. Dehydrate on 135 for about 12 hours. Dehydrating times may vary depending on climate. I live in vast desert wasteland, so my stuff dries quickly. Store in ziplock bags. You might want to put parchment between each tortilla to keep them from sticking.

Pork Burgers with Figs and Fennel

Figs were on sale at Whole Foods this weekend. I have never had fresh figs before. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure if I've ever had figs in any form other than a Newton. We got figs, not knowing even what to do with them. We also got fennel. I thought the two would go nicely together. I wanted something sweet, spicy and a bit smoky and pork always goes well with those 3 flavors.

2 lbs ground pork
2 Tbsp Fig Balsamic vinegar
1 tsp cinn
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp crushed brown mustard seeds
1 tsp chipotle powder
1/2 tsp ground fennel
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp cayenne

Combine all ingredients thoroughly and let sit at room temp for about 30 mins (or more). Shape them into burgers or sliders. Then grill to awesome perfection. 

1 Fennel bulb
8 figs
1/2 cup sweet onion, sliced thin
1/2 Tbsp Balsamic vinegar 
butter or oil

Heat butter or oil. Jullien fenneland cut figs into 8ths. Saute fennel and onions for about 10 minutes. Let them caramelize a bit and then add figs. continue to saute for 3 minutes then add balsamic and reduce for a few minutes. Serve on top of pork burgers.

Broclinguini

What do you do with broccoli stems? I've noticed a lot of supermarkets carry "broccoli slaw" which is basically julienned broccoli stems mixed with carrots. Apparently you can make slaw out of this. That sounds like a bag of gas to me.  I have a Benriner spiral slicer. There are several brands of spiral slicers out there, but I bought mine based on the amazon.com reviews. One reviewer bought 2 different spiral slicers and gave the one she didn't like to her mother-in-law and kept the Benriner. That was enough for me.

This is pretty simple. Cut the crown off of the broccoli and do with them as you please. I blanch mine and keep them in the fridge for a week of awesomeness. Cut the bottom 1/8-1/4 inch off the stem.

With a knife and/or peeler, remove the fibrous outer layer. the bottom of the stem is the most fibrous and as you get closer to the top, it's easier to digest. Spiral slice those stems! I had to cut mine in half to fit them on the spiral slicer. The top half where the crowns come off should be upright or they'll split apart. I used the widest blade attachment because I like linguini rather than spaghetti.

With the finished product, saute as you would zucchini linguini (or "zoodles" as some people call them. Does that make these "broodles") and serve with whatever sauce you like. Or you can eat this raw if you want a big plate o' gas.