Cod with Mango Salsa and Black Bean & Corn Tortilla Cakes

I love fish with fruit salsa. When I was little I didn't like mangos, I think they just got lumped in with Papaya as some disgusting tropical fruit. I still think papaya is gross and smells like vomit and butt, however I have very seriously changed my mind about mangoes. 

I thought the mango salsa could have been more mango-y, maybe next time I'll chop it a little finer so that it distributes more evenly. In addition I added 1 tbs of minced jalapeno to the salsa. My biggest issue was that I really wanted a firmer fish, like halibut rather than cod, but cod is so much cheaper it was hard to justify to myself, or Chris, spending 4x as much money on the Halibut. Swordfish or Mahi Mahi would make this dish AMAZING.

The corn cakes were awesome, and really easy to make. I shortened them down to 2 layers (3 tortillas) rather than 3 layers because that seemed ridiculous given the height of the things as it was, and I also didn't have quite enough tortillas to make it that way. There was a TON of cheese in these, so if you are dieting I would suggest cutting the amount of cheese down to 1 cup of each, it would probably still be plenty.This would be an awesome meal to cook for a gluten free family member or friend!

UPDATE: I made this with prawns and thought it was better than cod, but I still think a good firm fish would be preferable.

Bottom Line: 4.6 Stars (I'll probably up it to a 5 when I figure out the right fish!)

Ginger and Lemon Carrot Soup

This is one of my favorite soups. It's flavorful and filling, and it's cheap to make, especially if you make your own stock. Instead of the sour cream I like to add 1.5 tsps Sriracha to it for a little bit of added heat.

Bottomline: 4.2 Stars

Steak and Pureed Cauliflower and then Cauliflower Soup.

This doesn't need much of an introduction... This was the best pureed cauliflower I've had. Normally it's just a very weak substitution for mashed potatoes, but this stood on it's own as just plain delicious. Steaks were seasoned and then pan fried. I reheated the leftover cauliflower the next day, added some half and half, cut up a baguette, and presto-magicko cauliflower soup for lunch!

Bottomline: 4.0 Stars

Zucchini Vichyssoise

I love leeks. I love potatoes. I love soup. So it comes as no huge shock that I love Vichyssoise. When I got both of those things in the produce box last week I was super thrilled and immediately thought of making it. But I deferred, I said to myself: The who purpose of this is try things and experiment. So I started looking around for recipes with leeks. I was truly tempted to make leek confit and serve it with salmon... but I didn't. Then it was getting to be a while and soup seemed more logical since my leeks were less than pristine. So I thought I'll make Vichyssoise after all, but I'll look around and see if there is any different spin on it I can try. 

This was so so so good, not to mention really pretty looking! Once the zucchini purees it's almost like there are spices in the soup, there's these nice green flecks that just look lovely against the creamy potato. The other thing I really like about this recipe is that it's a little more practical than making a traditional Vichyssoise. Let's face it: Creme Fraiche is expensive and a freaking hassle to find. So most people normally fake it by mixing half and half or cream with sour cream. This was a nice departure from that. Especially since sour cream inevitably goes bad in my fridge unless I can also plan to make Mexican food. Now I have half and half  for my  tea and I don't feel quite so wasteful.

As to taste, I'm not sure that the zucchini added a ton of flavor, it was subtle, especially paired with something as potent as leeks. But it's a really good soup that I'm going to be eating for the next few days and that is NOT a problem for me! :P I've been serving it warm, it's not quite hot enough yet in Seattle for chilled soups, it's just as good warm as it is cold!

Bottom Line: 4.5 Stars

No Going Out to Eat Month

UPDATE: Chris apparently invited guests for this week from Arkansas, so NGOEM is cancelled and will be resumed some time in June. Thanks!

Chris is finally home after the conference his department hosts for Expeditors. Thank god. I hate it. He's horribly stressed out the whole time and even when he's home he's working. This lasts for almost a month before the damn thing even happens. Another side effect is that between the conference and other personal stuff we are both way too busy/stressed out to cook dinner as often as we should. Which means that in the last two weeks we've been eating out waaaay more than we normally would. In an effort to detox we have determined that the next 31 days will be another No Going Out to Eat Month. 

Which (hopefully) means I will be posting a LOT of recipes on here for the coming weeks. However, we are going camping this weekend and our camping trip ends in Portland  and we will be eating one meal out there (I will have a restaurant review for wherever we go). That just means that another day gets added on at the end.

I have also made a resolution now that the madness of our lives is slowing to be better about pictures.

Restaurant Review: Paseo's (Ballard)

I don't think I've ever heard a bad word spoken about Paseo's, except for the lines. The one in Ballard reminds me of California food shacks. The kind you find on the beaches in the southern region. There's some picnic tables outside, but no indoor seating. You walk up to the counter (or wait in line for 20 minutes) order and mill around till your food is ready.

Once you get your food you remember why you were waiting in line in the first place.

Chris and I each got one of the Cuban style sandwiches, ate half and switched. I started with the scallop sandwich, which was tasty, but there wasn't enough filler in the sandwich to make up for the amount of bread. Not that I blame them, it's already impressive to get a $9 sandwich that is enormous and has a pretty good amount of scallops in it, maybe add some other stuff besides the onion? Not sure what though... That being said, the scallops were cooked very well and meshed with the aioli and garlic tapenade perfectly.

The pork. OHMYGODTHEPORK. We got their most popular sandwich which was the Cuban Roast Pork. It was falling apart, and super messy. That's really all you need to know. A couple of drops of the juice fell on the bench we were sitting on and Jaxxson proceeded to lick the bench until I thought he had splinters in his tongue. And I wouldn't have blamed him if he did.

In addition we got a bowl of rice and a bowl of black beans. We didn't really need either because the sandwiches were enormous, but Chris was worried that we wouldn't have enough food. The rice was just plain jasmine rice. The beans were a little spicy and quite vinegar-y. It gave them a nice tang though and I think it would go great with one of their roast chicken thighs.

Price (Meal): $8-$14
Bottom Line: 4.8 Stars and only dinged because of the wait.

Upcoming Ingredients

In the box this week:

1 ea Imperial Sweet Onions

1 ea Broccoli

0.75 lb Roma Tomatoes

2 ea Sweet Corn

1 ea Local Asparagus

1 ea Carrots with Tops

2 ea Ataulfo Mango

3 ea Minneola Tangelos

1 ea Strawberries

1 ea Cantaloupe

1 lb Gold Beets

I think this is going to be a little bit of a challenge... Nothing on this list really jumps out at me. Probably going to make something Mexican-ish, since I'm getting the corn and the tomatoes. But all in all I'm not super excited. Who knows though?! I could come across something spectaculon!

Roasted Radishes and Greens w/ Brown Butter

I served this with leftovers from my roast chicken.

I used to hate radishes, they always tasted bitter and spicy, but not in a good way. So when I saw them in the box I was a little bummed, but I decided to look at it as a challenge rather than certain defeat.

I've only ever had radishes in salads, so I thought why not try them hot? Other spicy veggies tend to mellow when cooked, makes sense right? Yes it does.

These turned out really well! The radish itself was sweeter and kind of juicy. I wasn't super happy with the way the greens tasted. Chris and I agreed, it was sort of like eating grass. So either try cooking them as well or nix them all together. We'll see next time.

Bottom Line: 3.2 stars

Roast Chicken with Parmesan Garlic Rapini

I figure you can't really go wrong with parmesan and garlic. I'm not terribly comfortable with cooking rapini (broccoli raab), I've only done it once or twice in my life, but this looked simple enough. It was and it was suuuuuper tasty. The cheesey garlicky flavor mixed with that slightly spicy quality that rapini has was really good. Chris always looks a little nervous when there are veggies that he's never seen before but he really liked this. Although sometimes I think I could sautee a paper bag and as long as it had garlic on it he probably wouldn't complain too much. :P

My roast chicken is my Mom's recipe and it turns out pretty awesome every time. I'll include the recipe just in case anybody wants it.

Bottom Line: Rapini gets a solid 4 stars, good but not life changing.

Roast Salmon w/ Asparagus and Brie Risotto

Chris and I were both pretty disappointed with this recipe... The asparagus didn't cook all the way, which was not my fault since I followed the recipe exactly. In the future I wouldn't cook the asparagus in the risotto at all since it made the risotto have a very strong asparagus flavor. Also, I think the risotto itself could do with a little sprucing up. It needs salt since risotto is normally made with saltier cheeses like Romano, Asiago, Parmesan etc. Also I think a little white wine added at the beginning would go amiss either.

This didn't effect the flavor but it is worth noting. Make sure that the broth you are using is light in color. If you use a darker broth your risotto will taste fine, but it will look like baby poop.

Bottom Line: 3.0 Stars