Fish Tacos with Grilled Pineapple Salsa

What to do when you invite your son and his girlfriend over for dinner and he insists on a dish that isn't in your repertoir much less your recipe file? Thank heavens for the Net! Joe requested fish tacos for dinner when invited over for Sunday supper last week. Every time I suggested something else, he had a quick come back that included "fish tacos". So off to Costco I went & found a nice piece of halibut and after finding about 5 different recipes by "googling" fish tacos, and after adding a few ideas of my own, came up with the attached. I list most of the condiments as optional. Needless to say, I served them all. I must say, I was very pleased with the results.

Inspiration: Not able to say "No"
Time: 1 hour to prep, 2 hours to marinade & 30 minutes to cook
Difficulty: Easy
Special equipment: A BBQ grilling screen (not necessary, but makes life easier)
Servings: 4

For the fish tacos:

1/3 cup lime juice
1/4 cup tequila
1 1/2 teaspoons ancho chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chipotle powder
3 cloves garlic, mashed to a paste with 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup lightly packed fresh cilantro leaves, chopped
1 pound halibut, cut into 4 pieces
taco shells (or fresh corn tortillas if you want soft tacos)
Grilled Pineapple Salsa (recipe follows)
Cojita cheese, shredded (can substitute cheddar)
Sliced avocados (or guacamole) - (opt)
Pickled Onions (opt - recipe for another time!)
Pico de Gallo (opt)
Sour cream (opt)
Chipotle Tobascco Sauce (opt)


Mix the first 8 ingredients together and put in a sealable plastic bag along with the fish. Let marinate for 30 minutes or up to two hours. (I let it sit for the two hours). Heat your BBQ & grill the fish until opaque. Place each piece on a plate and serve with the remaining condiments.

Grilled Pineapple Salsa

1/2 whole pineapple, with the skin cut off and cut in eights
1 teaspoon aleppo chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup red onion diced
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped fine
Lemon (or lime) juice to taste

Mix the chili powder, salt & sugar in a small bowl. Sprinkle all sides of the pineapple with this mixture. Place on grilling screen on hot BBQ and grill on all sides until hot & grill marks show, but not soft. Remove from grill & cool. Cut into small pieces and mix with the red onion, cilantro, jalapeno and lemon juice. Let sit for 1 hour to let flavors meld. (Note: I had leftover salsa & served it with grilled pork chops the next night.)

Boysenberry Frozen Yogurt

Monday night, while waiting for Jenny to return from her Trip to Nanimo, I finally did something that I have been wanting to do for months, but never gotten around to it. That's right. I made yogurt. Okay so maybe my life isn't the most exciting in the world, but at least it now comes with home-made yogurt.

While I would love to write up the recipe for yogurt on here, I don't want to infringe on any copyright laws. I mean, as meaningful as it would be to receive a letter from Food Network or Alton Brown, the threat of a lawsuit is really not the way I'd like to go about it. So you'll have to go to here for Alton Brown's yogurt recipe which I am using for the base of my fro-yo.

Inspiration: A Good Eats Episode
Time: Over night for draining, 3o minutes for making, 2 hours for freezing
Difficulty: easy
Special equipment: Cheese cloth, 8 cups of Alton Brown's yogurt, ice cream maker
Servings: 2 quarts fro-yo

Ingredients:
8 cups yogurt
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup granulated sugar
rind from half a lemon (yellow part only), minced
1 pint fresh boysenberries, washed and dried.

1. Place a colander in a bowl and line with cheese cloth. Place yogurt into lined colander and drain yogurt in refrigerator overnight.

2. In the morning, discard yogurt juice, and remove yogurt solids into a mixing bowl. Stir in corn syrup, sugar, lemon rind and berries.

3. Freeze in ice cream maker to the manufacturer's directions.

4. Turn out into a container that can be sealed air tight and freeze for at least 2 hours.

Note: you could use any seasonal berry, but if it's a firm berry (like strawberries) you might want to mash the berry before adding to the yogurt.

Spicy Soy Sauce

An interesting sidebar that has come from my moving in with Jenny 6 months ago is discovering our condiment choices. Well...it's interesting to me at the very least. We have a wide range of sweet, tangy, tart and spicy. So if you were to look through the different items located on our refrigerator door (which I pray you never will) you will see everything from Miracle whip, to Garlic and herb hummus to Banana sweet and sour sauce to Cock sauce (garlic chili paste). You'll even find two kinds of Soy Sauce. I mean, why use soy sauce when you can use spicy soy sauce?

Inspiration: Making Soy Sauce Saucier
Time: 10 minutes to throw together
Difficulty: ridiculously easy
Special equipment: 2 cup mason Jar with lid
Servings: Depends how much you use soy sauce

Ingredients:
1 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup rice vinegar
3 tablespoons chili garlic paste (or to taste. I like mine spicy, so I use 3 tablespoons)
2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons sesame oil

1. Place all ingredients in a 2 cup mason jar. Seal with lid, and shake well.

That's it.

Note: This is a great marinade for chicken, flank steak and even salmon. You can put it over grilled or sauteed veggies, steamed rice or anywhere else you might use soy sauce.