Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Fish Tacos and Frida Kahlo

Tonight is my 4th grade daughter's Book Club Tea at school. Every kid read a biography and then wrote and illustrated their own book about the biography. We have been binding the books this week using the Japanese Book Wrapping Technique and it's been a lot of fun picking out fabrics from a pile of donated scraps to match each kids famous person. Tonight the kids will dress up as thier person and present the book they made and give some facts about that famous person. My daughter Olivia did Frida Kahlo. My very good friend who spent a lot of time in Mexico loaned Livy a tradition outfit to wear from when she was a child. We will be making Mexican Wedding Cakes to bring along too.

Ooh, I think that was just a little earthquake!

For dinner tonight we are having Fish Tacos. Viva la Mexico. In our house we serve tacos build your own style. I set out little bowls with all the different fixings, a platter of fish and everyone gets a warm tortilla. We heat tortillas as we need them in a cast iron skillet. I will also heat up a can of refried beans.

The fish

any white fish (sole, snapper, cod, etc...)
blackening seasoning (recipe to follow)

Coat fish lightly with seasoning. Get a cast iron skillet very hot. Melt a tablespoon of butter in the pan. Add the fish and let sear and blacken on one side, then flip and finish on the other side. Depending on the thickness of your fish, it should cook within 2-3 minutes a side. I am using petrale sole tonight, so I am guessing it will be about 1.5 minutes per side.

Garnishes for tacos:

Chopped tomato
Chopped avocado
Celantro
Chopped Green Onion
Cheese, (Queso Fresco, Catija, cheddar whatever you have/like)
lettuce
shredded cabbage
chopped jalapeno
sour cream
sour cream blended with chipotle chile (my favorite for fish tacos) ( When I open a can of chipotle chile in adobe, I usually use just a little bit - the rest I put in a zip lock and put in the freezer. When i need a little I just carve off what I need)

Blackened Seasoning

make a lot and save for later use (can be used for steak, chicken...

1/2 cup paparika
1 Tablespoon cayenne pepper
1 Tablespoon white pepper
1 Tablespoon black pepper
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon salt

Recipe can be doubled up or tripled up, etc...

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