Grilled Fish Tacos with Chipotle Slaw & Peach Pineapple Salsa

On the eve of our official end of summer vacation a very summery meal was in order. Although kids don't enter the building for a few weeks still our work lives are in full gear starting this week. Having returned from sunny, warm Eastern Washington with a load of wonderfully ripe peaches we were inspired to make some Peach Habanero Salsa.

For the past 10 years my family has spent one week renting a house in the Lake Chelan area on the Columbia River. This week involves many traditions that  have evolved over the years including long days on the boat spent wake boarding & water skiing, great meals and G's yearly peach stop. About 6 years ago on our way out of town we came across this roadside fruit stand on a local farmers orchard that has boxes of peaches set out in a variety of quantities with prices listed utilizing the honor system. G loves the idea of supporting a local farmer who trusts the average Joe to be honest. Just that has made G a yearly loyal customer.

So with these peaches that were in need of a purpose after being home a few days we decided salsa would become their fate. And we hadn't made fish tacos as of yet this summer so it kind of all just came together like that.

We also happened to have a pineapple that needed to be put to use so I decided to combine it into a peach- habanero-pinapple salsa. I chopped the pineapple. G meticulously attempted to cut the peaches to the same size to make a consistent salsa. We finished the salsa.

I went & picked up some fish. We typically use halibut, cod or tilapia but they had a Pacific firm white fish called "Swai" that we'd never tried on special so we went with it. I rubbed it with some olive oil, salt, pepper, cumin & powdered chipotle. While it cooked on the grill I started the chipotle slaw.

We had some of G's smoky ceasar dressing hanging out in the fridge still so I added a few tablespoons of that to a half cup each of non-fat plain Greek yogurt and Mexican crema,

a bit of salt & pepper and the mixed that with a bag of packaged cabbage made for slaw.

We opened a bottle of Mirth Chardonnay made by Corvidae Winery, one of our "fav" Washington Chardonnays to have with our fish tacos.

The fish was great grilled with a bit of smoky flavor from the cumin & chipotle powder that complimented the slaw. The peach salsa added the hint of sweet and acid to balance out the whole taco. It really was the perfect tastes of summer all together.

Recipes:

Peach-pineapple habanero salsa
4 seeded, peeled & diced peaches
1 cup diced pineapple
1/2 diced habanero (no seeds)
1 diced Serrano chile
1 cup diced red onion
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
Salt & pepper
Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Refridgerate until ready to serve

Chipotle Slaw
3 tablespoons prepared spicy ceasar dressing
1/2 C non-fat plain Greek yogurt
1/2 C Mexican crema
Salt & Pepper
1 small bag prepared slaw mixture
Mix dressing ingredients. Add slaw to dressing. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Fish Tacos:
1 lb. Firm white fish (cod, halibut & tilapia work well)
2 Tblspn. Olive Oil
1 Tblspn. Cumin
1 Tblspn. Chipotle powder
Salt & pepper
Soft corn tortillas
Rub fish with olive oil & spices. Cook fish on grill until cooked through. Heat tortillas on grill. Break fish into bite size pieces. Fill tortillas with fish, slaw & peach salsa.

Seattle Happy Hour Tom Douglas Style

Tom Douglas is a true Seattle Restaurant Icon. It seems every few months we hear about a new restaurant that he's opening. This is always good news to us as we have yet to eat at any of his restaurants and not be happy.

Awhile back we posted about his new Brave Horse Tavern that we really enjoyed.

Friday we went back to a few of our favorite of his offerings for Happy Hour guided by our friend Jim. He did a little research and found out Serious Pie starts happy hour at 3:00 and Lola, which is just a few steps away, starts theirs at 4:00. Perfect.

We were headed up to go to a wine event at Urban Enoteca for Fidelitas Winery which we are all wine members of.

Serious Pie's home canned goods on display

We started at Serious Pie for some $6 individual pies (Such a great deal for these delicious flavors.)

We each ordered a different variety to get a good sampling. G had the soft egg, woolly pig guanciale, charred escarole. I had the roasted chanterelle mushrooms, truffle cheese.. which I preferred of the two. But G was also very happy with his choice.

Lynne had the sweet fennel sausage, roasted peppers, provolone G's usual pizza preferences. And Jim went for the penn cove clams, house pancetta, lemon thyme.

We all really liked our pizzas and the start of our Friday evening.

But we were onto the next stop at Lola.

It was quick trip and we hit the bar

with exact timing getting the only small table for 4.

Lynne & I ordered the Lola house red wine and G ordered this yummy drink called a Ginger Sensation...sooooo good.

Next time I'm ordering that.

Although we all weren't still hungry at this point how could we not order this tasty food.

G & I ordered seasoned olives with a wonderful fresh feta and

an order of falafels

Lynne & Jim got the "hit" of the menu...lamb sliders and

pita with cauliflower & anchovy spread.

It was the perfect start to our evening before heading a bit south of the Stadiums to Urban Enoteca which is a very cool space with a great vibe.

This was our third or fourth trip up to this new building that houses several wineries tastings and an interesting restaurant. We are so happy to now be able to pick up our wine shipments from Fidelitas here as opposed to battling being home for the Fed Ex delivery....

While there we tasted a few new releases including the 2009 Merlot which was fantastic.

Our evening ended on a quiet note we decided to buy a bottle of Five Star 2007 Cabernet Sauvignon and pick up some cheese, salumi and olives and enjoy on the patio back at our house.

A great night with great food, dear friends and fantastic wine. What could be better?

Grilled Pizza with Arugula, Caramelized Onion and Quail Eggs

This is a pizza G has been hankering to make for some time now:Grilled Pizza with Arugula, Caramelized Onion and Quail Eggs

Last fall when we were on our annual Tri Cities wine excursion with our wine pals we had lunch at a fav spot in Prosser called the Wine O'Clock run by the Bunnell Family Cellars.And we had a pizza there that truly inspired our creation.

It was the addition of the quail eggs that really intrigued us both. To be honest this was my first attempt to try to like a soft cooked egg and this first taste really opened a new world for me.

But this pizza actually has a layering of flavors that really hits the perfect spot with both of us; caramelized onion: LOVE caramelized onions. And then our favorite Salumi Mole' salami made by Mario Batali's family. YUM what could be better really.

First G went over to a new spot he's been following Food Wishes to find a recipe for homemade dough and sauce. He went with this one (linked to the Foodwishes site.)

He made his dough

and sauce with canned Italian tomatoes.

After the dough was ready

 we did a pre-baking of the crust on the grill first.

Once the crust was pretty well cooked we then we added the sauce

and the toppings of caramelized onions,

cheese and the mole' salami.

We then put it back on the grill for about 8 minutes or so.

While the pizza continued to cook I opened a bottle of Barnard Griffin 2007 Petit Verdot. A wonderful wine that we received through our wine shipment.

 G then cracked the tiny quail eggs.

We found their shell is pretty resilient so we actually had to use a knife to help crack it in a way that wouldn't also break the yolk.

We took the tiny eggs out to the grill and added them to the pizza.

You use the heat of the pizza to cook the eggs.

Unfortunately we left the eggs on the grill a bit too long and our pizza turned out pretty crispy and the eggs a little more hard cooked than G really wanted. (They were perfectly cooked for my liking.)

We added some arugula,

black and red pepper flakes and then the final addition of a drizzle of olive oil and some grated Parmesan-reggiano.

This pizza had an amazing layering of flavor.

It was excellent. Truly excellent.

 We will be making round two again though soon as G is determined to not overcook it the second time. Regardless this pizza was a HUGE HIT!

Recipe:

 Grilled Pizza with Arugula, Caramelized Onion and Quail Eggs

See recipe for pizza dough & sauce linked about to Foodwishes

1 1/2 sweet white onion, sliced thinly ( walla walla was our choice)

1 tblspn each of olive oil & butter

10-16 pieces of salumi mole' salami

3/4 Cup shredded italian style cheese

4 quail eggs

a handful of arugula

Grated Parmesan-reggiano

drizzle of olive oil

sprinkle of black pepper and red pepper flakes

1) Prepare dough and sauce as directed.

2)Slice onion thinly. Cook on medium-low heat  in pan with olive oil & butter. Cook until fully brown and caramelized (12-20 minutes.)

3) Roll dough out on pizza stone. Cook on grill until firm and fairly cooked through.

4) Remove from grill. Add sauce, cheese, caramelized onions and salami.

5) Cook on grill until almost fully cooked.

6) Crack quail eggs into separate containers. Pour individual eggs onto top of pizza while on grill. Cook until whites of eggs are cooked.

7) Pull pizza from grill. Top with arugula, drizzle olive oil, sprinkle black pepper & red pepper flakes. Grate Parmesan-reggiano cheese on top.

8) Slice. Enjoy!



Grilled Flank Steak with Green Onions & Asparagus

G has been making this marinade for his flank steak since I met him almost 14 years ago. Some things are just reliable; his tasty marinate and of course G, himself.

He made his  Asian flavored marinade for the steak early in the afternoon and let the marinade do it's magic on the flank steak in the fridge until later in the evening when we were ready to grill.

Tonight he decided to fire up the charcoal Weber. He often feels he neglects his old grill now that he's had his gas one for a few years. Gotta love a man with this kind of loyality.

I prepped the green onions and the asparagus

 while he prepared his grill. Just added a little salt & pepper and lightly drizzled with olive oil.

The old "neglected" grill still served us well.

Everything turned out great.

G always lets his meat set the proper amount of time so the juices stay in tact and the flavor doesn't drain out.

The grilled onions are an amazing complimenting flavor to this marinade. We both love the additional flavor.

Tonight we served our flank steak and veggies with a California Rose' Josefina from Paso Robles...not bad.

We tend to stick with northwest wines with exception for our obsession with Spanish wines. But this was a good everyday wine value and not bad.

This meal and G's marinade for his flank steak are definitely one of our favorite go to meals. It's something we both get a craving for on occasion

and it never fails to hit the spot.

G's Marinade Recipe:

2, Scallions, diced

3 Tblspn oyster sauce

3 Tblspn honey

2 Tblspn Black Soy Sauce

Marinate the steak in a ziploc bag in the fridge for up to 24 hours. Pat dry. Season with salt & pepper. Grill over mesquite.