Fish tacos

I love fish tacos. Love them.
And I make them all the time.
And every time I make them I do it a different way.
And even though I do it different every time, I always have the same basic way of doing them: some type of white fish, some lettuce or slaw, some tomato or salsa, some avocado or guacamole, and some cheese or sour cream.
And always a soft tortilla. Because I hate crunchy taco shells. But I also don't think they would work for this dish.

Anyways, the other night I was taking inventory and trying to decide what I could make for dinner with what I had on hand. I had some fish, and some flour tortillas, a plum tomato, and avocado (now my mind is thinking fish tacos), and some sour cream. And a mango.
But no lettuce.
And no cabbage.
I did, however, have a head of cauliflower. So my brain starts thinking: "I wonder if I can grate some cauliflower and make a "slaw" out of that?"
So I did.
And it worked.

So I kept going.
And I drizzled a little red wine vinegar over the cauliflower.

Then I tossed in some chopped cilantro (sorry, no picture).
Then I grated some mango into the mix. (I know what you're thinking: "Carrie, You grated a mango??? What?!?!" Yes, I did. Keep reading...)

Then I grated the tomato into that ("What, a tomato? She grated a tomato? Now she's really losing it". But I'm not. Just hear me out... because this actually worked!)

Then I grated a couple cloves of garlic into the mix.
And then I topped it all off with a little more vinegar, and a little salt & pepper.
And Voila! I had an amazing "slaw" for my tacos.

Next, I cooked the fish. I used catfish this time, but any white fish will do.
Now, when you have smaller fish fillets they only take a few minutes to cook (maybe 3-4 minutes per side), so keep an eye on them.Oh, and after I flipped it, I put a little but of lemon zest on top. I would have preferred lime, but I didn't have one. And lemon is good on fish, so I went with it.

While the fish cooked, I sliced up an avocado, got the sour cream ready, and got my flour tortilla ready.
And when the fish was done, I put it all in a serving bowl, and started assembling my meal:

Then I dug in.
And boy was it gooood!!!!!

And now I can't wait to experiment more with cauliflower slaw. Or even broccoli.
I mean, I suppose broccoli would work too. Hmmm... (there goes the brain again) I wonder what other things I can grate and toss together and call "slaw"...
More to come on that I'm sure.
Stay tuned....
:)

Watermelon salad

Ok, this isn't really a salad.
It's just watermelon. And lemon basil. Chopped up and mixed together. And drizzled with white balsamic vinegar.
So maybe it is a salad?
I don't know.
Call it what you want.
But it's good. And it's simple. And it's refreshing.

It's also a really good base to add other ingredients to, like feta cheese, strawberries & blueberries. Or mozzarella, regular basil, tomatoes & balsamic vinegar. Or goat cheese, cucumber & mint (instead of the basil). Or kalamata olives, red onion, mint & feta.
You decide.

But watermelon salad (whether its sweet or savory) is a nice, refreshing salad to enjoy in the summer.And its way more fun and more delicious than boring old sliced up watermelon that everyone else brings to a cookout. So I hope you try one of these fun salads!

Anyways, here is the one I made, which I brought to a party along with the potato salad I made in my last post.
As I mentioned before, there's only 2 ingredients here: watermelon and lemon basil.

Now, if you have never used this type of basil before, I highly recommend you start. It is so sweet and refreshing and adds a nice lemony-basily flavor to things. It's perfect with fresh fruit, vanilla ice cream, sorbet (or sherbet, whatever you like to call it), mixed drinks (with rum or vodka), seafood dishes, pasta dishes... I could go on forever so I'll stop. But you get the idea.
Anyways, the best way I have found to slice basil is to layer the leaves in a little pile, roll them up, then slice them. This gives you nice little slivers, and doesn't leave your basil wilted or bruised. Chopping it up can do that. Plus, doing it this way is prettier, which only makes the dish look better.

Next, chop up the watermelon.
I always get nervous when I buy a whole watermelon for fear that it might not be perfect on the inside. There are so many different tricks that people have to choosing the right one, but with me, I think it's just all luck. And thankfully, this time luck was on my side, because I got a perfect one.
Anyways, what I do is cut the melon in half, then slice each halve, then cut each slice into bite-sized pieces.
The trick to this part: using a nice, long, very sharp knife. I broke out this one that I reserve for special occasions like this.

Also- to help guide my slicing, I make a small incision in the rind so that my very sharp knife won't slip and slice my fingers off. I use this trick on things like tomatoes and onions as well.

See how awesome that is!!!

Also, when slicing watermelon (or anything else that is juicy and will make a huge mess) I always put an old dish rag or towel on the counter underneath my cutting board.
Not only does this absorb all the juices, it also helps keep the cutting board from sliding around while you are cutting. Which could also cause the knife to slip and slice your fingers off. (I have cut myself a lot over the years, so I have a lot of tricks I use to help avoid doing it again).

Once the melon is all sliced up, toss the basil on top, drizzle a little bit of White balsamic vinegar on top (not pictured, sorry!), and enjoy.

That's it!

Hope you come back soon!

Mashed Potato Salad

How have I never posted this before?
I mean, it is the quintessential summer side dish, found at all cookouts and BBQ's.
And, while I think potato salad is Super Easy to make, some people find it a little challenging.
Specifically, what people seem to have the most trouble with on this dish is that they don't know how long to cook the potatoes for. If they are under-cooked, they are raw and crunchy. And if they are over-cooked, well- they are mush.
I have also heard people say that they can never seem to get the dressing right. Sometimes they put too much mayo in, sometimes they season it too much, and they ruin the whole salad.
So here is my version, which hopefully helps anyone who's had trouble with this salad in the past.

Ingredients:
Potatoes (I like the small yellow ones), mayonnaise (I use a little regular mayo, and a little Miracle Whip), yellow mustard, dijon mustard, ranch dressing, celery, onion, eggs, garlic powder, salt, pepper, sugar.

Steps one and two: boil the potatoes and boil the eggs.
For both: add them to pots of water, so that they are all completely submerged. Cover and cook on High.
     For the potatoes: once the water comes to a boil, uncover the pot, and let them continue to boil. The time will depend on the size of the potato (more time for larger ones, less time for smaller ones). These small ones I used took about 15 minutes once the water was boiling. To tell if they are done, stick a fork into the middle of the potato. If it goes in with no resistance, and slides right off the fork, it's done. When done, remove from pot and let cool.
     For the eggs- once the water comes to a boil, turn the burner off. Cover the pot and let the eggs sit for 12 minutes. After that, drain them and put them in a dish of cold water. Let them cool in the water for a few minutes, or let them cool on the rack with the potatoes.

Step three: make your salad dressing.

Forever and always when I made potato salad I would cut up the potatoes and eggs, then start adding mayo, etc. right too the potatoes until I got it "just right", praying all long that I didn't add too much of anything and ruin the salad. Then one day I was at my cousin Melissa's house, and she was making potato salad, but she was making the dressing in a separate bowl, and I thought to myself "Holy Cow! How did it NEVER occur to me to make the dressing, get it exactly the way I want it, and THEN add it to the potatoes?!?!?".

I couldn't believe that for all the years I had been making this that I never thought of that.

Ever since then, this is the way I have done it. 

So thank you Melissa. You have changed my life.

Anyways, the dressing: I have no measurements here. I just add everything to the mayo until it tastes good.

I personally prefer to do a 50/50 mix of mayonnaise and Miracle Whip, and just a little bit of all the other ingredients (yellow mustard, dijon mustard, ranch dressing, garlic powder, salt, pepper, sugar), but again, this is all personal preference so everyone does it their own way.

Miracle Whip

Mayo

Dijon

Ranch Dressing

 

Mustard

Garlic Powder

Pepper

Salt

Sugar

Mix

Step Five: peel and chop the potatoes, eggs, onions and celery.

I think this step is pretty self explanatory, but if not: the potatoes should be bite-sized pieces and the rest should be chopped much smaller, so that you don't get any large pieces when you are eating the salad.

Toss the eggs, celery and onions with the potatoes before you add the dressing to make sure the ratios are where you want them to be.

Also- I don't like a ton of yolks in mine, so I crumbled 2 into the potato mix, then just chopped the egg whites.

 potatoes

 celery

 onion

 eggs

Next step (I think we're on six now): add the dressing.

Make sure you only add a little at a time and mix it up completely before adding any more. You never want to add too much!

Last step (#7): mash it!

I know this seems a little "unconventional", but this is the way I like it.

You see, when I was little my Gramma always made potato salad, and it was sooo good. But my Grampa loved mashed potato salad, so we had that a lot too. And ever since then, if I have potato salad, I mash it with my fork so that it's mashed the way my Grampa liked it. 

So now, whenever I make potato salad, I give it a little mash at the end, and I really think it makes it so much better than big, chunky potato salad.

There you go! I hope you try this and enjoy it as much as I always have!

Oh, and if you really want to be fancy with your potato salad, line the edges of a platter with lettuce leaves and chopped tomatoes, then set the salad on top. It's so pretty that way (sorry I don't have a picture of my own to offer!).

See you soon!