March 10, 2013 Dinner – Fish Tacos with Mango, Kiwi,and Avocado Relish

March 10, 2013 Dinner – Fish Tacos with Mango, Kiwi, and Avocado Relish

Last Thursday the Manager’s special in the fish department at Pro’s Ranch market was halibut chunks for $3.99.  These were essentially trimmings from the halibut when they cut them into steaks that are usually long, thin, 1 inch wide strips, so they are perfect for cutting into small pieces for tacos.   Fresh halibut is usually $16.99 at Costco, so a great treat if they tasted good.  I bought a lb. of them.

Sunday evening after watching the English version of "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" I said, “We have fresh halibut for fish tacos.

Suzette asked, “Do we have fresh tortillas?”

I happily answered that we have 80 fresh tortillas that I also bought at Pro’s on Thursday.”

So Suzette went to the kitchen and began gathering the ingredients for me to prep for the relish with which she wanted to garnish the tacos: 2 avocados, 1 ½ mangos, 1 kiwi berry and the bag of cilantro with four or five stalks of cilantro.  I asked if she wanted some Mexican green onion in the relish and Suzette said, “No I will chop some to garnish the tacos.”

While I sliced and diced the ingredients for the relish, Suzette went to the basement and fetched two Noche Buena beers, made coleslaw with one-half of a head of green cabbage chopped in a Cuisinart with some mayonnaise, chopped the green onion and put 6 tortillas in a moist paper towel in the microwave to steam and heated them, and de-boned and de-skinned and chopped the halibut into bite size pieces and coated the halibut with panko and fried the fish pieces in the PPI bacon grease from breakfast for about a minute or two.  Before she fried the fish she called out, “Is the salsa ready? When I finally said, “I am close”, Suzette fried the fish. 

When the fish was fried, Suzette came to the table in the TV room to fetch the relish just as I was putting the chopped fresh cilantro into it and she stirred it and took it to the kitchen. I followed and we each took warm tortillas and filled them with pieces of fish and garnished them with coleslaw, fruit and avocado relish, and green onion. 

The fish tasted slightly sweet and was very soft, not the large flakes one usually associates with halibut, perhaps because these pieces were from near the bone and cartilage.

The tacos tasted wonderful with the Noche Buena beer and fresh fruit and avocado relish; among the best fish tacos I have ever eaten.  We had Cholulu and many other forms of red chili sauce but neither of us felt the urge to lace the tacos with hot sauce.  We must be confirmed hot chili wimps.

The sweetness of the fruit relish must have satisfied my craving for something sweet, because I went to bed happy and full at 10:00 after watching part of “Switch” starring Jennifer Aniston with Suzette.  

Earlier in the day for breakfast we made bacon and French toast with slices of heavy bread baked at the Greenhouse Bistro and Bakery and garnished it with peach syrup we made by mixing peaches, given to us by Suzette’s gardener grown on his trees in Tome, with syrup from Costco.

Here are pictures of Armando, the baker, making the bread and racks of the finished bread.  We ate slices from one of the round ones.

Bon Appétit