BAJA FISH TACOS MICHIGAN-STYLE

Do you know the way to ............................................?

Lazy days of summer at a marina. 

When Tom's cousins and I made Amber's, the fish monger's wife, recipe for Lake Michigan Whitefish with turmeric, cumin and white pepper, I thought the fish would be great for fish tacos.  Tom would not agree.  He liked everything crispy and would have wanted me to deep-fry the fish.  However, his cousins and I try to limit the fat grams in our foods.

There have been many pictures of Amber on the blog, but none of Eric, the fish monger.  Here he is hard at work packing the wonderful salmon they featured this summer.

The thought of combining Baja fish tacos, Baja is where fish tacos originated, with Michigan sounded like fun.  Baja is a peninsula jutting into the Pacific Ocean.  Michigan is two peninsulas nestled within the Great Lakes.  Baja has warm weather all year long with coastline, mountains, and deserts.  Michigan has miles and miles of fresh water coastline, inland lakes everywhere, and cold winters.  What all three peninsulas have is an abundance of fresh fish for making fabulous tacos.  

The recipe for making our fish tacos looks complicated.  It is not.  You need fish, tortillas-flour or corn, Lake Superior Tartar Sauce with a Mexican Kick, shredded cabbage, salsa, fresh chopped tomatoes, chopped green onions, and fresh limes.


Frequently recipes have to be adjusted to fit the taste of your diners.  I did not put the tartar into the cabbage to make a dressing as Joyce does not mayonnaise although she ended up loving the sauce.  I served the tartar sauce and cabbage separately so everyone could add what they wanted.  John does not like "hot/spicy" food so I didn't use much chipotle pepper adobo sauce in the tartar sauce.

To make our fish tacos Michigan-style, we used Amber's recipe for Lake Michigan Whitefish.  For complete recipes with pictures copy and paste these web addresses:

http://michigancottagecook.blogspot.com/2011/08/lake-michigan-whitefish-amber-style.html

http://michigancottagecook.blogspot.com/2010/09/easy-grilled-fish.html

http://michigancottagecook.blogspot.com/2010/07/fish-fillets-two-ways.html

LAKE MICHIGAN WHITEFISH AMBER-STYLE

Whitefish fillets, or other mild tasting fish

Turmeric

Cumin

White pepper

Sprinkle turmeric on the fillet side of the fish.  Lightly sprinkle the cumin on the fish.  Sprinkle with white pepper to taste.  Grill or pan fry/bake. See the Michigan Cottage Cook post on fish grilling or pan fry/bake methods:   http://michigancottagecook.blogspot.com/2010/07/fish-fillets-two-ways.html

The seasonings for Amber's fish recipe.

Sprinkle seasonings on fish fillets.

Turmeric gives the fish a nice color.

Grill or bake the fish.

I thought Wanda's Lake Superior Tartar Sauce would make a excellent dressing for the cabbage salad part of our fish tacos.

http://michigancottagecook.blogspot.com/2010/07/lake-michigan-lake-trout-with-wandas.html

WANDA’S LAKE SUPERIOR HOMEMADE TARTAR SAUCE WITH A MEXICAN KICK
So quick, so easy, so good.


1/2 c mayonnaise
1 heaping T sweet pickle relish
1 t cider vinegar
1/2 t sugar
1 t or to taste canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce


Mix the ingredients together, adjust seasoning to taste.

Ingredients:  Mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish, cider vinegar, sugar, chipotle in adobo sauce, and shredded cabbage.  

Put mayonnaise in a bowl.  

Add sweet pickle relish.

Add sugar and cider vinegar.

Add chipotle adobe sauce and mix together.

Finished sauce is in green bowl.  I would add it to the shredded cabbage to make coleslaw if Joyce liked mayonnaise.

We wanted crispy corn tortillas for our tacos again without the grease of frying them.  Check out:

http://michigancottagecook.blogspot.com/2010/04/tortillas-cheese-and-steak-part-i.html  for ways of fixing tortillas.  Here is my way for making crispy corn tortillas

Corn tortillas and Crisco spray.

Spray tortillas with Crisco spray and place on grill or griddle.

Looking good.

Finished corn tortillas.  Flour tortillas can be used if desired.

TO ASSEMBLE TACOS:

Ingredients are ready.

Slice a lime.

Break fish into pieces.

Take two tortillas, add cabbage and tartar sauce or add Lake Superior Tartar Sauce with a Mexican Kick coleslaw.

Add fish.

Add chopped fresh tomatoes.

A salsa of your choice, and chopped green onions.

Add a squeeze of lime.

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!!!!

THE M-BROTHERS' TEAMS WIN SEASON OPENERS

 I can't believe I survived my first ever football game.

 It was fun and I ran for a two point conversion!!!

 Our gentle giant made the hole in the line for the runner to score the regulation time touchdown.

Their best cheerleader!!!!  "Mom, I need a blue harness so I match their team colors!!!

THANK THE COACHES

Good coaches do more than teach the fundamentals of the game.  They teach sportsmanship, discipline, teamwork and so much more.  We are blessed, and I mean blessed, as the boys have excellent coaches.

Saturday we were reminded just how wonderful they are.  In the five to seven year old league, the five year olds look like cartoon figures.  Shoes sticking out from a shoulder-pad filled jersey with a helmet perched on top of the shoulder-pads.  The coach of 5 to 7 year olds from an opposing team was ejected from the game at half time for unsportsmanlike conduct!!!  So if you have great coaches, even if you think they are not letting your family star play enough minutes, take a minute and thank the coaches for all their work and patience.

PEACH SEASON

 Here are the wonderful tips for picking out peaches and how to store them from my friend, Shirley, whose family has owned orchards in the Hart, Michigan area for three generations.


http://michigancottagecook.blogspot.com/2010/08/peach-buying-tips-and-ripening-hints.html




 This has been my favorite peach pie since I found the recipe in the Detroit Free Press when I was 15 years old.  That was a looooong time ago!!!

PEACH CRUNCH PIE
http://michigancottagecook.blogspot.com/2010/09/detroit-free-press-peach-crunch-pie.html

Pie not your thing?  Try this quick and easy peach cobbler which is wonderful plain, with whipped cream or with vanilla ice cream.

JEANNIEBEANNIE'S SETTING SUN PEACH COBBLER

http://michigancottagecook.blogspot.com/2010/08/jeanniebeannie-s-setting-sun-peach.html

A TWIST ON CALIFORNIA DIP OR FRENCH ONION DIP INVOLVES A TWIST OF THE SPICE GRINDER

What could possibly be new about a dip that has been around since the 1950's?  Commercial cultured sour cream hit the market in the 1950's.  Before that sour cream was something made at home and didn't have the consistency of  the commercial product.  If you look in 1950 era cookbooks, you will find that when sour cream is listed as an ingredient it is listed as commercial sour cream.


After the introduction of sour cream on the market, executives of Lipton's noticed a big spike in their sales of Lipton Recipe Secrets Onion Soup Mix in California.  When investigating this spike they found that people were mixing their soup mix with the new sour cream to create a dip.  Lipton called the new dip, California Dip, and put the recipe on their boxes of soup mix. 

A few weeks ago, Matt wanted me to try a new dip that they had found and really enjoyed.  The French Onion Dip was creamy, smooth, cool, and full of rich onion soup flavor.  It did not smack you tongue with hydrolyzed beef protein flavor and dried onions.  Izzy and I are not very creative right now as we try to find our way through the grief of losing Tom and Katrinka.  However, we can still duplicate some commercial products.
 

What the taste and look of Matt and Cindy's favorite new dip told me was that dip contained a very finely ground flavoring.  I decided to use a spice grinder and grind a package of onion soup mix into a fine powder.  Then I decided to add it to 24 ounces of sour cream instead of the usual 16 ounces.  Izzy and I decided we had to add a little personal touch so we added some dried chives as well as the soup mix.  

My Grand-daughters and friends, saying, "This dip is so good Grandma!", finished the whole bowl of dip except for what I had taken out to photograph the next day.

THE MOORE'S VELVETY FRENCH ONION DIP OR CALIFORNIA DIP 

1 pkg. dry onion soup mix
1  (24oz) carton sour cream, low-fat or fat-free works well
1/4 c plus 1 T dried chives, optional
Bacon dust for garnish if desired
Fresh chives, chopped for garnish if desired

Ingredients:  French onion soup mix, sour cream, and dried chives if desired.

In a spice grinder, grind onion soup mix and 1-tablespoon of dried chives to a powder.  Add to 24-ounces of sour cream.  Mix well. Add approximately 1/4-cup dried chives to the sour cream mixture.  Chill to meld flavors.  Put dip mixture into a serving bowl and garnish with bacon dust and chopped fresh chives if desired.  Serve with potato chips and vegetable dippers.

Put dry soup mix in spice blender and grind to a powder.  (I need Tom to take the pictures for me!) 

Add a tablespoon of dried chives, if desired and grind into soup mix.

Put ground mixture into a bowl.  

Add sour cream.

Mix well.

Add some dried chives to mixture, if desired.  Mix well.  Chill to meld flavors.

Put chilled dip into a serving bowl and garnish with chopped fresh chives if desired.

Garnish with bacon dust if desired.  To make bacon dust go to:  http://michigancottagecook.blogspot.com/2011/07/bacon-dust-new-in-seasoning-plus-how-to.html

Serve dip with potato chips and vegetable dippers.

My Grand-daughters and friends enjoyed the dip with potato chips.  Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!!!!!

TO CLEAN YOUR SPICE GRINDER GO TO:  http://michigancottagecook.blogspot.com/2011/07/bacon-dust-new-in-seasoning-plus-how-to.html





 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR FAVORITE OLDEST GRANDSON!!!!

 

 

 

SO TRITE BUT TRUE, TURN AROUND AND THEY GO FROM 2 TO 22!!!  WISHING YOU THE HAPPIEST YEAR YET!!!

IT IS TIME TO HAVEST BASIL

 I like the tall variegated basil on the left as it never flowers and it never needs to be cut back.

My basil is flowering and will soon go to seed.  It is time to harvest and freeze it for winter use.  Here is the post from last year that show Christy's method to freeze basil for the winter.
 
http://michigancottagecook.blogspot.com/2010/09/basil-gardening-harvesting-and-freezing.html

 My deck box herb garden.

 Basil flowering and ready to be harvested.

This is the post for a wonderful pesto recipe that freezes well for the winter.  Add the pesto to ricotta cheese and use it as a pizza sauce.


http://michigancottagecook.blogspot.com/2010/11/pesto-for-winter.html

MISSISSIPPI CORN COOKING FOR 2 OR 3

Baking corn during the summer season is the most wonderful, easy and delicious way to cook sweet corn on the cob for a family or a crowd.  However, I am now alone with just Izzy and I don't want to put the oven on for a half hour for one or two ears of corn.  Izzy does like corn and can be quite sneaky in trying to get a cob for herself.  The problem is corn doesn't like Izzy.  Soon, it is "Mom!! Urp, slop, bring the mop!"


TO BAKE CORN GO TO:
http://michigancottagecook.blogspot.com/2010/07/as-promised-easiest-and-tastiest-way-to.html

When Tom's cousin, Joyce, was here from Mississippi, she told me about her corn grower's best microwave recipe for cooking corn on the cob for a few people.  The farmer who grows Joyce's corn, not only delivers it to her door, he tells her how he thinks it should be cooked.   His method for microwaving fresh corns works well.

Corn that is cooked in its shuck is much easier to clean.  Shucking uncooked corn takes much longer and it is much more difficult to remove the silks.


MISSISSIPPI FARMER'S MICROWAVED SWEET CORN ON THE COB

1 to 5 cobs of corn
Condiments of your choice


To fit the corn in my microwave, I cut off the very top of the corn and the bottom.  Place corn in the microwave and cook on HIGH for three minutes.  Turn corn over and cook for another 3 minutes on HIGH.  Remove the corn from the microwave and shuck.

 Sweet corn on the cob straight from the Farmer's Market.

To make the corn fit in a microwave better, trim off very top and bottom of the cob.

Place corn in the microwave.  Cook for three minutes on HIGH.  Turn corn over.  Cook for another three minutes.  

 Shuck corn.  See how the silk just slips off the corn.

 Corn ready to serve.

 Add condiments of choice.  The corn from the Farmer's Market is so fresh, I just eat it as is.  I don't add anything to it.

Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy!!!!!!!!!!!