That's What Bob's Cooking: Taco night!

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Taco night!

I’ve been craving taco’s lately…hard shell, soft shell, street vendor style…..whatever, taco’s are quite simply the perfect food. So when I saw these recipes for Margarita Fish Tacos, and Jackfruit Carnitas, I had to quickly wipe up to drool. They sounded so good, I had to move them up a night on the Menu. Tonight I made both versions, cause I couldn’t decide on which one I liked better. (side note, they were so good, and went so fast, I forgot to take pictures!! I will remake them and take pictures of them at that time. Here are the recipes for them both. Try one, or the other, or both…enjoy!

Also, I found a GREAT tortilla to use. It is a mixed tortilla tastes like corn, but feels like a flour tortilla.

I also mad:

Pico De Gallo

3 Tomatoes, diced

½ Onion, finely diced

4-5 Tablespoons Cilantro, finely diced

½-3/4 Jalapeno, finely diced

Juice of ½ of a Lime

Salt and Pepper

Mix and allow to rest for about an hour

Margarita Fish Tacos

with Chipotle-Lime Mayo and Arugula

1 ½ tablespoons grated orange rind

1 tablespoon grated lime rind

2 tablespoons tequila

1 pound halibut fillets (or white fish, I use Cod)

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon olive oil

¼ cup reduced-fat mayonnaise

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh cilantro

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

1 ½ teaspoons finely chopped chipotle chile, canned in adobo sauce (about 1 chile)

8 (6-inch) corn/flour mix tortillas

2 cups trimmed arugula

Combine first 3 ingredients in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add fish to bag; seal and marinate in refrigerator 30 minutes, turning occasionally. Remove fish from bag; discard marinade. Pat halibut dry; sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place on grate of a baking pan, and place in 370

Combine mayonnaise, cilantro, juice, and chipotle.

Warm tortillas according to package directions. Divide fish evenly among tortillas; top each tortilla with 1/4 cup arugula and about 2 teaspoons mayonnaise mixture. Fold in half.

Jackfruit "Carnitas" Tacos

Ingredients:

Young Green Jackfruit, canned, in brine or water, not syrup. (available at an Asian food store)

Olive oil, about 2-3 Tablespoons

Salsa Verde (Trader Joe's brand is ideal.)

Lime juice

Onion, cut in to large pieces.

Garlic, pressed or minced.

Chile Powder

Cumin

Pepper

Smoked Paprika

Cayenne Pepper

Oregano

Instructions:

Drain & rinse the jackfruit thoroughly. With your hands, press the moisture out of each piece & set aside. Place oil a deep pan on the stove and heat on high to sear the jackfruit, Mix spices in a small bowl, take your spices & season each piece of jackfruit, add it to a hot deep pan.

Add the chopped onion & garlic to the pan, sear and reduce heat to medium low. Cover the seasoned jackfruit with the Salsa Verde. It doesn't have to be completely covered, just make sure there's enough liquid in the bottom & spoon a bit on top of all the pieces. (I tend to use a little over half a jar per can of jackfruit.)

Squeeze lime juice over the top of everything (I use a 1/2 lime per can of jackfruit), Cover and simmer for about 30 minutes, and use a wooden spoon to “shred” up the jackfruit.

After the jackfruit is cooked, it will have changed colors & be a nice browned color.

Serve the jackfruit in corn tortillas with some additional salsa on top & a squeeze of lime juice or any other toppings you enjoy!

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My Complete Profile

I was born and raised on the East side of Portland Oregon, by two native and second generation, Oregonians, my Mom and Dad (Jack and Joan). Oregon, and the Northwest are deep in my blood. That being said, I have always had an interest in cooking. I would love to add a warm loving story here about how my Mom nurtured my love of cooking by setting me up on or near the counter top to help with whatever she was cooking. Well, that's not exactly the case.

Being a child of the 70's and 80's, I had a great exposure to classic foods like Spam, Tang, Rice-a-Roni and Hamburger Helper. While many of these premade, sodium roller coaster, treats where regulars on our table, my Mom would have to hold the title as "casserole queen". Casseroles are her favorite and her specialty. Whereas, my Dad was more of a spur of the moment kind of cook. His creations included many of the items from our makeshift pantry. Sometimes, i think he was thinking, "the more ingredients, the better it'll be!". I think my first attempt at cooking would have to have been making cookies, either peanut butter (with the criss-cross fork tine print on top), or chocolate chip cookies. Over the years I have made so many of both of these recipes, I have surely lost count.

During middle school, my Mom encouraged me to take Home Economics, thinking that all kids, boy or girl, should know how to cook out in this world. This sparked a growing interest in cooking. So when I entered my junior year of High School, at David Douglas, I enrolled in the culinary arts program, we called it Food Services I. This was a class that had been offered many years before, where the students ran a restaurant, The Kilt, during the lunch periods. Unfortunately, since the class had not been offered in several years, so we didn’t have enough students to open the restaurant, that year. Within the first few weeks of this class, my instructor asked if I'd like to be involved in an outside "club" (kind of like a version of Eagle Scouts) that was mentored by local business owners. It sounded interesting so I joined (not to mention it got me out of the first 2 periods of the day).

At our first meeting I was approached by Sylvia Poesdel, the owner of the Portland landmark restaurant, Sylvia's Italian Restaurant & Dinner Theatre. She asked me if I would be interested in an afterschool job, coming to work for her to learn the cooking/chef trade on the job. I jumped at the chance and started in October of 1985. During my senior year I rejoined the culinary arts program (Food Services II) and this year we were able to reopened the restaurant, which the rest of the students voted me to manage. I just absolutely loved it! I worked at Sylvia's until after I graduated, in 1989. I learned a lot about the restaurant industry, and I would have to say it would be one of just a few life altering jobs I have had throughout my career.

After high school, while I was working at Sylvia's, I applied to culinary arts school. The Two things kept me from continuing my career in culinary arts, were financial and having worked out in the field, I saw so many negative attributes to being a chef, I decided that since I love to cook, I wanted it to be a hobby, and not a drag to go work each day.

When I left Sylvia's, I worked at a hotel, then Safeway. From there I joined Fred Meyer in the Service Deli, and was quickly promoted to a manager. During the next 8 years, I worked throughout the Portland and Southern Oregon areas. In 1998, I earned a promotion to the regional specialist position (District Manager) in Seattle. During this career move, I learned so much about the Food Service industry. I was charged to develop a new service salad case program, as well as work on a new catering program. I had the opportunity to work with manufacturers to develop these new programs.

In 2000, I met the love of my life, Craig. I also, moved from the food service program to the grocery department as an assistant manager. In the capacity I learned to develop my management skills as well as managing inventory. By being the best in my category, I earned the position of manager, where I moved from store to store cleaning up and reorganizing as I went. I also was entrusted with training future Food managers for the region. At which point I was pursued by another company to run a store for them, and enter back into the restaurant industry. During these 3 years, I learned the Restaurant Supplier side of the business. While I enjoyed the time I spent in this opportunity, I yearned to go back to the Grocery industry, and spend more time with my first love, cooking, and writing about my adventures….in the kitchen!