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!)

Prawns w/ Avocado and Blood Orange Salsa

Ooooh man. This was GOOD. Like top 5 home-cooked meals ever good. I think all the stuff I made would be great made into tacos with a little rice added. That being said it was really good just on it's own. I've had blood oranges before, but these were so sweet and so tangy they practically sizzled on your tongue! The salsa was such a nice counterpoint to the buttery-ness of the prawns.

I served it with black beans, which don't look so pretty in the pictures, but really they aren't the focus anyway! I really need to learn something to do to doctor canned black beans besides simply warming them up. I like them better than most other beans, but they are still sort of ho-hum unless you take the time to really make them from scratch.

I added about half a cup of cilantro to the mix, and I think it was a good thing I did. Who ever heard of fresh salsa without cilantro. That's just crazy talk. In the future I will also add a little cumin and maybe a touch or oregano. Also, my blood oranges were teeny-weeny so I used four of them. Chris thinks that they need to be chopped rather than segmented so their distribution is more even throughout the salsa. I sort of liked pairing a wedge with each prawn, but I see his point. I'll try it next time and update. I'll also add photos to this post and the previous one this weekend.