I’m honored to share my birthday with the noodle. There’s nothing like a hearty noodle dish to lift your spirits, especially as the weather starts to turn cooler and the days become shorter. I spent a good chunk of my childhood in Korea and was spoiled with all kinds of amazing Korean noodle dishes — savory, spicy, loaded with seaweed, dumplings and even rice cakes. Mmmm mmmm.
I’ve always wanted to make my own fish tacos, but just never got around to it. So I figured with Cinco de Mayo just around the corner, it would be the perfect opportunity to create a simple, delicious and festive fish taco recipe.
While I normally wouldn’t argue against fried food, I much prefer fish baked or grilled (I also wanted this recipe to be somewhat figure-friendly). I also like to keep my taco fixins’ pretty straightforward: some lettuce, tomatoes and guac….mmmmmmm guac. In my opinion, your basic guac is already perfection, but I wanted to add a little kick with two of my favorite ingredients: jalapenos and…TEQUILA! OK, I guess tequila isn’t a favorite ingredient per se since I’ve never actually cooked with it, but the Amateur Gourmand does love herself some good tequila (none of that gag-inducing cheap crap). My go-to tequila is Sauza Tres Generaciones Plata ($35-40), which I used in this recipe.
So anyway, what’s everyone doing for Cinco de Mayo (besides making these yummy fish tacos 
)? You can find me at Trophy Cupcakes during my lunch break – gonna try their margarita cupcakes w/ tequila-lime buttercream, holla! And later in the evening, I’ll be partaking in Tacos Guaymas’ block party in Greenlake, double holla! Jalapeno-eating contest anyone? 
Serves 4 (2 tacos per person)
Guacamole recipe slightly adapted from Simply Recipes
Tacos
Guacamole
Using a fork or potato masher, mash avocado in a bowl. Add yogurt, lime juice, lime zest and tequila; mix well. Add jalapeno, onion, salt/pepper and cilantro; stir until all ingredients are incorporated and smooth. Adjust seasonings if desired. Pour finished guacamole into serving bowl; set aside.
Preheat a grill pan to med-high heat. Drizzle fish on each side with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill fish on each side until opaque, about 4 mins. Remove fish from grill and flake into large chunks with a fork.
Heat tortillas on the grill pan until blisters form. To assemble tacos, spread a dollop of guacamole onto tortilla, add fish, and top with shredded lettuce and chopped tomatoes (or whatever toppings you prefer). Optional: squeeze additional lime juice over the fish.
Enjoy with a Mexican beer or tasty margarita! Note: if you have any leftover guacamole, serve it as a dip with tortilla chips!
A few weeks ago, when my post-holiday “lemonade” cleanse took an unexpected bad turn, I was left with more lemons than I knew what to do with.
So the challenge for the remainder of the week: make as many recipes that called for lemons. Those damn lemons were no match for my competitive drive and frugal mind – it was on like Donkey Kong! After tapping into a few of my favorite go-to recipes, trying new recipes from cookbooks and even asking for recommendations on Facebook (btw, thanks for all the wonderful ideas, folks!), I successfully used up every last one of those pesky lemons. A double bonus: I managed to incorporate many of my leftover CSA produce as well. Below are highlights of some of my favorite dishes from the “challenge.”
I love, love, love the Pioneer Woman’s cookbook and was thrilled to find this simple and delicious pasta recipe featuring the lemon as the star ingredient. You can easily adjust this recipe to feed a larger group if you’re entertaining. It also reheats wonderfully – I should know, I ate it for lunch for 2 days in a row .
For this recipe, I opted to deglaze the pan with the herb sauce before serving it over the chicken. Flavor-wise, this was a good decision. The downside: the sauce went from a beautiful bright green to a poopy brown color – ick. I served the chicken with some brown rice and this recipe for grilled mushrooms basted with a “lemony” sauce.
By midweek I was having a bit of a sweet tooth so I decided to step my challenge up a notch and face my ultimate fear in the kitchen: BAKING! I had actually seen a recent episode of Barefoot Contessa where Ina made this lemon yogurt cake and it took everything in me not to start licking the TV screen, haha!
I had some blueberries that I needed to use up so I added them to the glaze to give the cake a little extra pizazz. The cake was every bit as delicious as Ina promised it would be, but I actually prefer it sans glaze. Then again, I’ve never been a huge fan of glazes or frostings on my baked goods.
I have my lovely coworker Nathalie to thank for this meal — she responded to my S.O.S message on Facebook and shared her DE-LICIOUS Lebanese tabbouleh recipe. To round out the meal, I decided to keep with the Mediterranean theme and serve it alongside Cooking Light’s chicken souvlaki with homemade tzatziki sauce.
For those wanting to try the Lebanese tabbouleh, here is the recipe from Nathalie:
Serves a kajillion (but it stays fresh in the fridge for several days).
Soak the bulgur in cold water; set aside. While the bulgur soaks, prep the remaining ingredients and mix together in a large bowl – adjust the seasonings to taste. (Jenn’s Note: I started off by adding about 1/3 of the lemon juice and gradually added more until the flavor was to my liking). Drain the bulgur and add to the rest of the ingredients; mix together well. Refrigerate for 3-4 hours before serving.
HAPPY NEW YEAR, everyone! Here’s to 2010 being the best year yet — full of joy, good health, and lots n’ lots of delicious food! Since I had to work today, I decided to keep my NYE low-key by staying home in PJs, drinking champagne and watching all the celerations on TV.
On Wednesday night, my friend and I met up for dinner at Kozue , one of our favorite Japanese comfort food joints. My friend ordered sukiyaki – I had never tried it before so she let me have a taste of hers. HELLO, AMAZING! It has a nice sweet ‘n savory flavor profile…reminds me a little bit of bulgogi, a Korean-style BBQ beef dish I grew up eating.
Needless to say, I hadn’t been able to stop thinking about sukiyaki after trying it. So I decided since I was staying in on NYE — and it was a crappy, cold, rainy night — it was a perfect opportunity to try making the dish at home. Luckily, it was super easy to make and it turned out fan-fricken-tastic — I think I might have even licked the bowl after haha!
Anyway, below is the recipe in case anyone else is itchin’ for some delicious sukiyaki — this recipe is adapted from Iron Chef Morimoto’s recipe on the Food Network website.
Serves 4
Preheat a large pan on med-low heat and add oil. Sear the slices of beef lightly. Meanwhile, combine the mirin, sake, soy sauce and sugar in a bowl until sugar dissolves; add this mixture to the beef and let simmer. Add the tofu, cabbage, mushrooms and scallions. Pour in the dashi. When the liquids come to a boil, add the chrysanthemum leaves and udon noodles. Cover the pan and let simmer until chrysanthemum leaves have wilted.
With the cooler weather and a nasty virus-turned-pneumonia for the past few weeks, I’ve been eating quite a bit of soup There’s nothing like a warm, hearty soup or stew to bring your spirits back up. So for this week’s Fave Recipe Friday, I’m sharing my friend Missy’s Moroccan-Style Chicken Stew recipe.
I was first introduced to this dish last winter when we had a horrible snowstorm here in Seattle. A couple girlfriends and I had planned to meet at Missy’s for a little dinner and vino, and while everyone else canceled due to horrible road conditions, I decided to take the risk. But as I pulled out of my garage, I quickly realized my uphill driveway was completely iced over and I wasn’t able to get out. So I ran upstairs like a total maniac, grabbed some kitty litter and dusted the hell out of the driveway in complete desperation. Less than 5 minutes later, I was out of the garage and slowly trucking the few miles to Missy’s place. Of course what would normally be a <10 min drive turned into an eternity, but the delicious spread awaiting me made up for it all. So there you have it, the stew that I risked my life for…and I have no regrets Hope you all enjoy it as much as I do!
Moroccan-style Chicken Stew
Serves 6-8
Ingredients
Directions:
The soup goes great over some couscous with a drizzle of EVOO on top ~ Mmm Mmmm.
This weekend is Chuseok, a national holiday in South Korea, which includes celebrations of good harvest, paying respects to ancestors and – my favorite part – huge feasts of delicious, traditional Korean food. I’m half Korean and spent a good chunk of my childhood in Korea (my dad was in the military) so I had the opportunity to celebrate Chuseok in the homeland with my extended Korean family.
I’m dedicating this week’s Fave Recipe Friday entry to one of my favorite Korean comfort foods: Chapchae (stir-fried noodles). Not only is this dish delicious and super easy to make, but it is also very versatile. The vermicelli noodles (made from sweet potato starch) absorb flavors very well so any vegetable works beautifully with this recipe. You can find the Korean vermicelli noodles at most Asian specialty grocery stores — my local favorite is H Mart, which has stores in Lynnwood and Federal Way.
Here is the recipe my mom and I always use:
Makes 4 servings
Ingredients:
Directions
The finished product should look something like this:
Photo Source: Gourmet.com
Note: For those who like their meat, feel free to add small pieces of beef or pork to this dish.
Happy Chuseok, everyone!
