Food Obsessions
  • cook
  • April26th

    Faux Fish Tacos

    Posted in: cook

    Fish Tacos

    Seduced by Food and Wine Magazine’s April cover, I’ve been eating fish tacos all month. Actually, my taco obsession started last summer with a late afternoon lunch of succulent, yucatecan pit-barbecue style pork tacos with with spicy pickled red onions at Dos Caminos in Soho. I’d forgotten about the tacos until I saw the little meat and veggie beauties on the magazine cover.

    I began my search for fish tacos which began and ended with a few Mexican fast food restaurants. I wasn’t satisfied. The fish was either a cold, fried little fillet or the taco, a wet sloppy mess. I decided to take the matter into my own hands and just make them myself. Not letting a few failed attempts at making fish tacos in the past get me down, I searched the web for recipes. I knew that cabbage played a key role, along with a creamy sauce, of maybe guacamole or sour cream.

    Again, Food and Wine Magazine didn’t disappoint, as they recipe I was looking for – something with lightly seasoned cabbage, guacamole and of course fish. I altered the recipe a bit, cheating a bit with bagged grated cabbage and frozen fish fillets (which I don’t recommend unless you want a really bland piece of fish). I made a quick pico de gallo and added a touch of sour cream to the finished product. The leftovers were a bit better, since I seasoned the fish a bit before popping in the oven and heated the corn tortillas until blistery with grill marks. I’m looking forward to my next batch which will undoubtedly be much better with fresh fish and fresh grated cabbage.

    Food and Wine Recipe: Fish Tacos with Creamy Lime Guacamole and Cabbage Slaw

  • April16th

    poached egg and asparagus

    I’m a newly minted workshifter, which means I work from home. I don’t follow a special schedule, so my hours are still pretty much 9-5. But it does mean with a little planning, I can have a fabulous home-cooked breakfast. Excited for spring after the all of the snow this winter, I was eager to pick up some asparagus from the market. It’s just one of those vegetables that marks the beginning of spring and warm weather.

    Fresh from an early morning run to the market, I quickly put on a shallow pot of water to poach a couple of eggs while frying a potato pancake. I love potato pancakes and I reduced the effort of preparation to nearly zilch by buying frozen hashbrowns and doctoring them up with a sprinkle of good onion and garlic powders, sea salt, fresh cracked pepper and an egg. The egg is key in holding everything together and works fine with frozen potatoes. I took an even lazier approach to cooking the asparagus by throwing it in a shallow bowl with a little water and steaming it in the microwave.

    The finished dish was a potato pancake topped with a few slices of prosciutto, 2 beautifully poached eggs (although it may not seem so from the picture) and steamed asparagus. Fifteen minutes from prep to table and I was sopping up oozing eggs with steamed asparagus. The prosciutto added the perfect amount of savory saltiness and went perfectly with the potato pancake.  Next time I’ll finish the dish with a little truffle oil when I feel a little indulgent.