Hello all! So as everyone knows, this past Monday was Cinco de Mayo, which is when pretty much everyone either cooks Mexican food, or goes out and gets Mexican food. Everyone except me lol. I actually had leftover spaghetti on Cinco de Mayo but decided that I would make a Mexican dish this weekend and what I decided on was a Rachael west coast version of a Mexican dish, tacos. Here is Rachael Ray's "Margarita Fish Soft Tacos with Pico de Gallo Rice Pilaf".
So the first thing I did was get the fish marinating. This recipe calls for you to use either Mahi Mahi or Halibut. The local grocery stores around me either don't have a fresh seafood counter, or the fresh seafood counter smells absolutely awful. Rachael Tip: Don't buy seafood that smells bad. Most people just assume that seafood stinks. If the seafood is fresh, it should not have an unpleasant odor to it. It should merely smell fresh. I opted to drive to Whole Foods in Yonkers NY to get these groceries so that I could get nice fresh fish that was one, fresh and didn't smell awful, and two, that was sustainably caught. Whole Foods didn't have fresh Mahi Mahi or Halibut so I used Tilapia instead. Any firm white fish will work for these. These are called margarita fish soft tacos because you are basically marinating the fish in a margarita. You make a marinade of tequila, lime zest and juice, vegetable oil, old bay seasoning, and chili powder. Add the fish fillets into the marinade and coat them and let them sit while you begin preparing the rest of the meal. I also put my flour tortillas in some foil and popped them in a warm oven to soften them up once I had the fish going in it's marinade.
Once you get the fish marinating, you can start on the rice pilaf. In general, when I make rice pilaf, I always use orzo pasta to get it started, and that is actually what this recipe calls for. But, I had about 1/4 lb of spaghetti left over from making the broken spaghetti soup a couple weeks ago so I used that instead. Rice pilaf is simply a mix of toasted pasta and rice. Rachael Tip: You can use the leftover bits from your pastas in rice pilaf. Save the bits left in the box and when you have enough, use them for pilaf! If you don't do that, and being perfectly honest, I never think to save the bits of pasta, you can either use orzo or broken spaghetti. Since I rarely have just a little bit of dried spaghetti on hand, I usually keep orzo in the pantry for making rice pilaf. Add a little EVOO to the pan over medium heat. When the oil ripples, add in the broken spaghetti. Toast it until it is deeply golden brown, but be careful. It will go from toasted to burnt really quickly. Once the pasta is toasted, add in the rice and chicken stock. When the stock begins to boil, turn the pan down to low, place a lid on it and cook for 18 minutes. When it is finished, you will fluff it up with a fork and add in your Pico de Gallo! The instructions for the Pico are coming up!
Once the rice is underway you can begin working on the tomatillo sauce that you use inside the tacos! Drizzle a tablespoon of veggie oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Chop up a small purple onion (I refuse to call them red onions, they are not remotely red, they are purple), a couple cloves of garlic and a jalapeño pepper. If you don't groove on super spicy food, you can remove the seeds and rib from the jalapeño. The heat in chili peppers lives in the ribs and seeds so stripping those out will tone down the heat level. Once the veggies are chopped, add them to the pan and sweat them out. While the onion, garlic and pepper softens, you can begin working on the tomatillos. Tomatillos look like small green tomatoes and come with a papery husk on the outside. They are actually not related to tomatoes at all, but are in the gooseberry family and have a very tart and sweet flavor. Tomatillos have a lot of pectin in them and when you remove the husks off of them, you will feel that the skin is tacky. Rachael Tip: Rinse the tomatillos under a little cold water and it will remove the stickiness from the skin. Coarsely chop them and when the onions are soft, add in the tomatillos and season with salt, pepper and 1/3 palmful of cumin and toss to combine. You'll let them go for about 8 minutes until the tomatillos are breaking down and becoming very soft. When the tomatillos are broken down, remove them from the heat and let them stand for about 5 minutes. Then you can add them to a food processor or blender with a ripe avocado coarsely chopped, a nice tablespoon of honey and the zest and juice of a lemon. Blend it until it is farely smooth and set it aside until you are ready to serve. If by some chance you can't find tomatillos, you can purchase a good quality salsa verde and simply puree that with the avocado, honey and lemon. This sauce is so tasty and the recipe makes a ton. It would be good with tortilla chips or even poured over grilled chicken. If you have leftover, freeze it! Once you add the tomatillos to the pan, heat up your griddle pan over medium heat. If you are making this on the grill outside, you'll probably already have it heating.
Once the tomatillos are in the skillet, you can make the Pico de Gallo that you will toss with the rice pilaf. Finely chop a purple onion, a jalapeño pepper and seed and chop 4 plum tomatoes. Rachael Tip: To seed the tomatoes, cut them in half and give them a gentle squeeze over the GB. If you don't speak Rachael Ray lingo, GB is the garbage bowl :). This will seed the tomatoes so that the Pico doesn't add too much liquid to the pilaf. Combine the veggies with the zest and juice of a lime and a little salt to taste. Rachael Tip: Be careful not to add too much salt to the pico. Lime hits the same points on your tongue that salt does so if you over salt, the added lime juice may make the dish come across as too salty. When the rice is finished, fluff it with a fork and add in the Pico de Gallo!
So the last thing to do is to cook the fish. Once the griddle pan is hot, spray it with some cooking spray and cook the fillets about 3-4 minutes per side. My pan would only accommodate two fillets at a time so I cooked them in two batches. While the fish is cooking, shred up a half a head of purple cabbage (again, it's not red) to put in the tacos. Rachael Tip: To remove the core from the cabbage, cut into quarters and slice into them on an angle. When the fish is finished cooking, you are ready to plate up the tacos.
Take your warmed tortillas and put a couple on your plate. I found one fillet would give me enough for 2 tacos. Take a fillet and flake it up with a fork. Add it into the tortilla. Top the fish with some of the tomatillo sauce and then put some crunchy purple cabbage on top. Plate up a serving of the Pico de Gallo pilaf along side and enjoy. This one was really tasty, and it's pretty light. I had never tried fish tacos but had always wanted to try them. This recipe was very tasty and definitely brings out a Mexi-Cali flavor. Hope you guys enjoy this one! Buon Appetito!
Recipe:
This meal was featured on Rachael Ray's 30 Minute Meals and the recipes can be found at the following links.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/margarita-fish-soft-tacos-recipe.html
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/pico-de-gallo-pilaf-recipe.html
So the first thing I did was get the fish marinating. This recipe calls for you to use either Mahi Mahi or Halibut. The local grocery stores around me either don't have a fresh seafood counter, or the fresh seafood counter smells absolutely awful. Rachael Tip: Don't buy seafood that smells bad. Most people just assume that seafood stinks. If the seafood is fresh, it should not have an unpleasant odor to it. It should merely smell fresh. I opted to drive to Whole Foods in Yonkers NY to get these groceries so that I could get nice fresh fish that was one, fresh and didn't smell awful, and two, that was sustainably caught. Whole Foods didn't have fresh Mahi Mahi or Halibut so I used Tilapia instead. Any firm white fish will work for these. These are called margarita fish soft tacos because you are basically marinating the fish in a margarita. You make a marinade of tequila, lime zest and juice, vegetable oil, old bay seasoning, and chili powder. Add the fish fillets into the marinade and coat them and let them sit while you begin preparing the rest of the meal. I also put my flour tortillas in some foil and popped them in a warm oven to soften them up once I had the fish going in it's marinade.
Once you get the fish marinating, you can start on the rice pilaf. In general, when I make rice pilaf, I always use orzo pasta to get it started, and that is actually what this recipe calls for. But, I had about 1/4 lb of spaghetti left over from making the broken spaghetti soup a couple weeks ago so I used that instead. Rice pilaf is simply a mix of toasted pasta and rice. Rachael Tip: You can use the leftover bits from your pastas in rice pilaf. Save the bits left in the box and when you have enough, use them for pilaf! If you don't do that, and being perfectly honest, I never think to save the bits of pasta, you can either use orzo or broken spaghetti. Since I rarely have just a little bit of dried spaghetti on hand, I usually keep orzo in the pantry for making rice pilaf. Add a little EVOO to the pan over medium heat. When the oil ripples, add in the broken spaghetti. Toast it until it is deeply golden brown, but be careful. It will go from toasted to burnt really quickly. Once the pasta is toasted, add in the rice and chicken stock. When the stock begins to boil, turn the pan down to low, place a lid on it and cook for 18 minutes. When it is finished, you will fluff it up with a fork and add in your Pico de Gallo! The instructions for the Pico are coming up!
Once the rice is underway you can begin working on the tomatillo sauce that you use inside the tacos! Drizzle a tablespoon of veggie oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Chop up a small purple onion (I refuse to call them red onions, they are not remotely red, they are purple), a couple cloves of garlic and a jalapeño pepper. If you don't groove on super spicy food, you can remove the seeds and rib from the jalapeño. The heat in chili peppers lives in the ribs and seeds so stripping those out will tone down the heat level. Once the veggies are chopped, add them to the pan and sweat them out. While the onion, garlic and pepper softens, you can begin working on the tomatillos. Tomatillos look like small green tomatoes and come with a papery husk on the outside. They are actually not related to tomatoes at all, but are in the gooseberry family and have a very tart and sweet flavor. Tomatillos have a lot of pectin in them and when you remove the husks off of them, you will feel that the skin is tacky. Rachael Tip: Rinse the tomatillos under a little cold water and it will remove the stickiness from the skin. Coarsely chop them and when the onions are soft, add in the tomatillos and season with salt, pepper and 1/3 palmful of cumin and toss to combine. You'll let them go for about 8 minutes until the tomatillos are breaking down and becoming very soft. When the tomatillos are broken down, remove them from the heat and let them stand for about 5 minutes. Then you can add them to a food processor or blender with a ripe avocado coarsely chopped, a nice tablespoon of honey and the zest and juice of a lemon. Blend it until it is farely smooth and set it aside until you are ready to serve. If by some chance you can't find tomatillos, you can purchase a good quality salsa verde and simply puree that with the avocado, honey and lemon. This sauce is so tasty and the recipe makes a ton. It would be good with tortilla chips or even poured over grilled chicken. If you have leftover, freeze it! Once you add the tomatillos to the pan, heat up your griddle pan over medium heat. If you are making this on the grill outside, you'll probably already have it heating. Once the tomatillos are in the skillet, you can make the Pico de Gallo that you will toss with the rice pilaf. Finely chop a purple onion, a jalapeño pepper and seed and chop 4 plum tomatoes. Rachael Tip: To seed the tomatoes, cut them in half and give them a gentle squeeze over the GB. If you don't speak Rachael Ray lingo, GB is the garbage bowl :). This will seed the tomatoes so that the Pico doesn't add too much liquid to the pilaf. Combine the veggies with the zest and juice of a lime and a little salt to taste. Rachael Tip: Be careful not to add too much salt to the pico. Lime hits the same points on your tongue that salt does so if you over salt, the added lime juice may make the dish come across as too salty. When the rice is finished, fluff it with a fork and add in the Pico de Gallo!
So the last thing to do is to cook the fish. Once the griddle pan is hot, spray it with some cooking spray and cook the fillets about 3-4 minutes per side. My pan would only accommodate two fillets at a time so I cooked them in two batches. While the fish is cooking, shred up a half a head of purple cabbage (again, it's not red) to put in the tacos. Rachael Tip: To remove the core from the cabbage, cut into quarters and slice into them on an angle. When the fish is finished cooking, you are ready to plate up the tacos.
Recipe:
This meal was featured on Rachael Ray's 30 Minute Meals and the recipes can be found at the following links.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/margarita-fish-soft-tacos-recipe.html
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/pico-de-gallo-pilaf-recipe.html
