WELL, HELLO! PORTOBELLO TACOS

I don't know why you say goodbye, I say, "Well, Hello! Portobello Tacos."

Well, hello there! Haven’t seen you around. I would have noticed someone as fine as you. What inspired you to come to my little part of the world? No shit! You came to see me? You want me to cook to bang you? Fair enough. It’s just that I’m usually the one pursuing dates. Nothing wrong with someone aggressive that knows what they want. If it’s me you want, so be it. Wait, you’re vegan? Why? Never mind. It won’t be a problem. So how about some Portobello mushroom tacos? Glad you enjoyed them. Shall we retire to the bedroom now? Thanks for stopping by.

Total time: approximately 25 minutes
Projected cost: $6
Drinking Buddy: Beer

Ingredients (serves 2):
1. 1 tbsp tomato paste
2.to taste
3. ½ tbsp vegetable oil
4. ½ onion
5. 1 Portobello mushroom
6. 1 small handful of cilantro
7. 4 small tortillas
8. ½ sliced thinly
9. 1
10. 1 handful of shredded lettuce
11. 1 tomato chopped coarsely

Step 1
Chop the onion and chili pepper coarsely and combine them with the cilantro and tomato paste and puree it all.

Step 2
Cut the Portobello mushroom in long thin strips, marinate them with the puree (approx 15 min), and then stir-fry them with the vegetable oil (approx 5 min).

Step 3
Wrap up the tortillas with foil and heat them up in the oven (approx 5 min). Fill each tortilla with the Portobello stir-fry, lettuce, tomato and avocado. Serve them up.

Spicy Lime Fish Tacos

Fish tacos are one of those hit or miss type of meals. We’ve tried them in the past but have never been completely satisfied with the outcome. This time, however, we scored big time. I don’t think I’ve had a better fish taco… ever.

Bear with me with this recipe. It was one of those a little off this and a little of that… we actually made this twice because we forgot what we did the first time around. Whoops. So feel free to adjust the quantities and spices in the recipe, it’s very rough to begin with! Just think of the whole thing as “to taste!”

Next time we might actually try adding some cornmeal to the flour mixture, just to lighten it up a bit. But the coating definitely gives the fish a pretty golden brown crust that makes for delicious tacos!

Spicy Lime Fish Tacos

Makes 4 servings.

INGREDIENTS
For Sauce:
1 cup plain yogurt
1 lime, juiced
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1 teaspoon honey

For Fish:
1 lime, juiced
3 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup flour
2 4-6oz. mahi mahi fillets, sliced into 1/2 thick pieces
vegetable oil

1 cup cabbage, any color, shredded
Small flour tortillas
Chopped cilantro, lime wedges, and sliced green onions for garnish.

DIRECTIONS
Combine all sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

In a shallow dish, stir together lime juice, honey, and spices. Add fish slices and toss to coat. Let marinate for 10-15 minutes.

You can season your flour with more spice if you’d like, though I couldn’t say if it actually added any more flavor to the fish itself.

Take fish out of marinade and lightly toss in flour. Shake off excess.

Heat a few tablespoons oil in a large skillet. Add coated fish pieces and cook until golden and cooked through, about 2-3 minutes per side (will vary depending on how you sliced your fish).

Heat tortillas in a small pan until warm and bubbly. Keep in a warm oven until ready to serve. Top with fish, cabbage, cilantro, green onion, and yogurt sauce. Enjoy!

Leftover Turkey Tacos with Cranberry Salsa Ottoman Turkish

You know you found a good use for your turkey leftovers when the meal is good enough that you’d make it again some other time of year. Who knew turkey leftovers could be so good?

For the cranberry sauce, I used a few spoonfulls of our Vanilla Cardamom cranberry sauce, and then maybe 1/4 cup of our Grand Marnier Cranberry glaze. I also added a kiwi, just because I had one and it seemed like it would be a good fit. And it was! With this one, or anytime, be sure to wear gloves when cutting the jalepeño… it’s two days later and my fingers are still burning!

Leftover Turkey Tacos with Cranberry Salsa

Recipe from Simply Recipes, with adjustments.

INGREDIENTS
Small flour tortillas
Cooked turkey meat, cut into bite-sized pieces
Mixed greens
Avocados, diced

Cranberry Salsa
1 1/2 cups of fresh or frozen cranberries, or premade cranberry sauce/glaze.
1 apple, peeled, cored, and diced
1 kiwi, peeled and diced
Zest of one orange (or, 1 tablspoon orange juice)
Chopped serrano or jalapeno chili to taste (about a half a chili, but taste for desired heat)
2 Tbsp sugar
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 lime, juiced
Dash of salt

DIRECTIONS
Prepare cranberry salsa. Combine cranberries and apple in a food processor and pulse until coarsely shredded, about 10 short pulses. Combine shredded cranberries, orange zest, chile, and sugar in a medium bowl. Let sit 15 minutes for the cranberries to macerate. Add cilantro, lime juice, and salt to taste. You can also use cranberry relish, just add chopped chiles and cilantro.

Heat a large frying pan (preferably cast iron) on medium high heat. Unless you are using freshly made homemade tortillas, you will need to soften them first. Working one or two at a time, spread a little butter on one side of the tortilla and fry it in the hot pan for a few seconds on both sides. Most commercially made tortillas will bubble up a little when cooked like this.

Sprinkle one side of the tortilla with grated cheese, and cover one half of the tortilla with turkey meat. Fold over one side of the tortilla onto the other (like an omelette. Cook until the cheese is melted. You may need to flip the tacos over to cook the other side, but if the cheese is completely melted this is unnecessary.

Serve with cranberry salsa, fresh shredded lettuce (sprinkled first with a little vinegar and salt), and avocados.

Fish Tacos with Mango Salsa and Cilantro Lime Sauce

I always love a good fish taco. And as good as our last recipe was, these were better. I love mangos. I love lime. I love cilantro. Combine them altogether in a sweet and spicy salsa on top of some good fish – delicious.

Maybe it’s because of some recent sketchy fish experiences we’ve had with frozen fish, but we’ve decided to treat ourselves to some nice fresh fish at Whole Foods. Rather than going for the boring old mahi or tilapia, we though we’d try something new we’d never heard of – Amberjack. It was firm enough that it didn’t fall apart, but still tender and flaky. It made for some delicious fish tacos, that’s for sure! If only Tennessee was closer to the coast so we could have really fresh seafood more often. :)

Fish Tacos with Mango Salsa and Cilantro Lime Sauce

Makes 2 servings. Recipe from Culinate.

INGREDIENTS
1 lb. flaky white fish, such as halibut, tilapia, sole, or snapper (we used Amberjack)
4 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 Tbsp. soy sauce

10 to 12 corn tortillas
3 cups shredded cabbage

For Lime Sauce:
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1/2 cup low-fat yogurt
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped or pressed
Salt

For Mango Salsa:
1 bell pepper (red, yellow, and/or orange), deseeded and chopped into ¼-inch squares
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
1 jalapeño pepper, deseeded and diced
2 just-ripe mangoes, peeled and chopped into ½-inch square chunks
1 handful cilantro, washed, dried, destemmed, and chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
Juice of 1 lime
Salt to taste

DIRECTIONS
Prepare the fish marinade by combining the fresh lime juice with the vegetable oil and soy sauce in a rectangular glass or ceramic dish. Add the fish, turn to coat, and leave to marinate while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Prepare the chipotle-lime sauce by combining the mayonnaise, yogurt, sour cream, lime juice, chipotle chile, and chopped garlic in a bowl. Season to taste with salt.

Prepare mango salsa by mixing all ingredients together in a medium-large bowl and season to taste with salt.

Remove fish from the marinade and grill or sauté until cooked through. Warm the tortillas, either in the oven, microwave, or saute in oil. Set out individual bowls of the sauce, salsa, and shredded cabbage.

For each individual taco, place some of the fish (breaking off chunks of the cooked fillets) on a tortilla, drizzle with the chipotle-lime sauce, and top with cabbage and mango salsa.

Crispy Black Bean Tacos with Feta and Cabbage Slaw

Tacos don’t need meat. In fact, sometimes they can be much more hearty and satisfying without it. Case in point: these delicious and meatless black bean tacos. Don’t skimp here and buy pre-made hard taco shells, the fresh tortillas are cooked until crisp with the black bean filling inside them, making for a perfectly crunchy and hot taco. I think we might have overfilled ours a bit, and didn’t have much room for the slaw after the fact. Next time we’d probably make 6 or so tacos (instead of 4), and save more room in each one for the slaw. I also felt that the slaw could have a bit more flavor to it – maybe some chipotle mixed with some plain yogurt would give it a nice bite and consistency.

Crispy Black Bean Tacos with Feta and Cabbage Slaw

Makes 4 tacos (2-4 servings, depending how hungry you are). Recipe from Bon Appetit, January 2009.

INGREDIENTS
1 15-ounce can black beans, drained
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
5 teaspoons olive oil, divided
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
2 cups coleslaw mix, or finely shredded red and/or green cabbage, and grated carrot
2 green onions, chopped
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
4 white or yellow corn tortillas
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
Bottled chipotle hot sauce or other hot sauce

DIRECTIONS
Place beans and cumin in small bowl; partially mash. Mix 2 teaspoons olive oil and lime juice in medium bowl; add coleslaw, green onions, and cilantro and toss to coat. Season slaw to taste with salt and pepper.

Heat 3 teaspoons olive oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add tortillas in single layer. Spoon 1/4 of bean mixture onto half of each tortilla; cook 1 minute. Fold tacos in half. Cook until golden brown, about 1 minute per side. Fill tacos with feta and slaw. Pass hot sauce alongside.