T1B

...some instructional cooking videos, starring me?

Give me your recipes, and if they are interesting and reasonable, I will film and edit them, then upload them to YouTube and post the link here.

Might be worth a try, if you're serious.

So you can teach Mikey to make dishes he taught you to make?

Ohhhhhhkay. Makes sense.

He's going to translate it into Canadian first.

Mikey wrote:...if you're serious.

2014 will be a new start for our friendship, Mikey.
This I promise you.



Be well, old chum.

Get a room.

No, you get a room!

:x

OK my old friend. You're on. So sorry I took so long to take you up on this but I've been kind of busy for the past few years.

Let's start with what I concocted for dinner last night (which I posted in my Foodieland thread). You may not have access to all the ingredients I use, but you may be able to find viable substitutes.

I had intended to make fish tacos but decided I wanted something a little more substantial so I took some stuff I already had and picked up a few more ingredients at the grocery store to make these fish tostadas, sort of making it up as I went along. I'll have to say, the result tasted awesome and was almost a work of food art.



Served 3, with enough left over for lunch.

Ingredients
(metric measures are in parens)
I don't usually measure stuff, unless I'm working with a written recipe, but I'll try to estimate here

For marinade:
- juice from 2 (2) limes
- 2 large (2 large) garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tsp (.98578 tsp) cumin
- 1/2 tsp (.4929 tsp) kosher salt
- 1/2 of a large bunch (.5 large bunch)of fresh cilantro, chopped
- 1/3 to 1/2 cup (78.1 to 118.3 cc) of EVOO

Other ingredients :
- 1 1/2 lb (.68 kg) fresh Alaskan halibut
- 1/4 head (1/4 head) fresh red cabbage
- 3 (3) crispy corn tostada shells
- 6 (6) fresh Hatch Valley New Mexico green chiles
- 6 (6) large green onions
- 1/2 (.5) Fallbrook Reed avocado. A whole Haas will do, but they're not nearly as tasty
- fresh tomato salsa. Our local market makes it fresh daily with tomatoes, onions, cilantro, chiles, lime juice. If you can't get good fresh salsa you'll have to make your own.
- 1 ea 30 oz (887 cc) can Rosarita No Fat Traditional Refried Beans
- Mexican style crema (sour cream)
- Queso fresco (crumbled)


A note on the fish:
I used fresh Alaskan halibut, which I've been getting lately at Costco. If you can't get a good, thick, very fresh piece, or you're not completely comfortable cooking fish on the grill, it may be best to use something else. Any firm white fish will do, like swordfish, albacore, mahi mahi, or tilapia (blech). Halibut can be touchy and fall apart on the grill if you don't know what you're doing.

Baby seal might work.

Alaskan halibut tostadas (part 2)

Make the marinade:
A couple of hours before cooking, combine the lime juice, salt, cumin and garlic in a cup or glass bowl and whisk with a fork. Add the EVOO and whisk again. Add the chopped cilantro and mix again. Set aside for a few minutes.

Cut the halibut into 5 or 6 big chunks. Place it in a plastic container (one that has a lid) or gallon zip-lock bag with the whole green chiles and onions. Pour in the marinade. Roll it around gently to distribute the marinade but so as not to break up the fish at all. Put it in the refrigerator.

A half hour before you're ready to cook, take the fish and veggies out of the fridge and set aside. Shred the cabbage with a sharp knife
Put the beans in a covered saucepan and heat on the stove at low heat until bubbling.

Heat up your grill until it's REALLY HOT. I use a gas grill for this because it gets hotter faster than my charcoal grill and I don't care about getting any smoky flavor on the food. I also used a vegetable tray (stainless steel with holes in it) for the veggies. Heat up the tray on the grill.



Put some paper towels on a large cookie sheet, take the fish out of the marinade and place it on the paper towels. Take some more paper towels and pat the fish dry all over. You need to do this, especially with the delicate halibut, or the fish will stick to the grill and fall apart when you try to turn it.

When the grill is really hot, put the green chiles and onions on the vegetable tray. I left them for about four minutes before putting the fish on. Turn them occasionally until they're nice and charred all over. When they're done I put them on the warming rack at the back of the grill.

Grill the fish, about four minutes per side (depending on how thick it is). Do not over cook. Remove the fish and veggies from the grill.

To build the tostadas:
Smear a large spoonfull of the beans on the tostada shells. Layer, in order, a small pile of red cabbage, fresh salsa, a tbs or so of crema, a couple chunks of fish. Put the roasted chiles and onions, and some avocado slices, on the side. Sprinkle with some of the crumbled queso. Serve with some lime wedges and cilantro sprigs to garnish if you want. Drink Mexican beer.

There you have it.

Easy as pie.

When can I expect to see the video?

I would have chosen cod or haddock. Halibut is one of the very best-tasting white fish there is. It just seems there's an awful lot of stuff piled on top of it that would somewhat mask the flavor. But rack the creativity.

I believe that 98.7% of the tilapia on the market is farm-raised. Not making its way to my plate.

Mikey wrote:Drink Mexican beer.

Or a small bucket of piss.

The halibut there is more substantial than it probably looks and is definitely the center of this dish. Those pieces are about 2 inches (5.08 cm) thick. The only thing on top of the fish is come crumbled cheese, and the rest of the stuff underneath complements it more than anything else.

The fish picks up the flavor of the marinade really well too.

This weekend on Sunday we're having the wife's extended family, and some additional friends, over for a bbq and pool party. I'll be smoking a bunch of ribs and grilling some carne asada. The marinade I made for the fish was originally designed for carne asada, but works well on just about anything that you want to give a Mexican flavor to. Add some chipotle for a more spicy and smoky flavor.

The peppers were a revelation. They look like very mild Anaheim chiles, but actually pack some substantial punch. They've had them in the local grocery this week in large boxes with "Hatch Valley, New Mexico" and stuff written all over them. You can buy the box for $27.00 or pay about $1.50 per lb ($3.60/kg). Really nice flavor when grilled.