Kaffir Marinated Trout with Salsa and Pupusas

I think both my husband and i floated somewhere magical whilst eating this meal - mouthgasms were abundant. I really out did myself with this meal,  though it was actually really easy. I used my stick blender's food processor attachment to make the marinade, and had to fight myself to stop from just drinking it right on the spot.

The trout was gifted to us by a good friend for my husband's birthday, all the veggies were homegrown, and i molded up the little pupusas minutes before cooking them.
Here's how it went:

Marinade (amounts are very approximate, more to ratio):

• Splash white wine vinegar
• Splash (about half the amt of the vinegar) olive oil
• Splash (about half the oil) tequila
• Splish worchestershire sauce
• 3 kaffir lime leaves
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 small onion
• Dashes cumin, salt, pepper, cayenne
• Generous dash hot smoked paprika
• 1/2 a peach

The amounts of the liquid need to be enough to make enough marinade for the amount of fish - but don't overdo the oil or the vinegar, as the onions and the rest of the veg will liquify pretty well and you don't want the vinegar/oil flavors to overshadow the kaffir lime. Blend and resist drinking it all right there in the kitchen.

Salsa:

• Red ripe serranos, seeds and membrane removed
• Red ripe and green jalapenos, 1/2 with seeds and membrane removed
• Porter tomatoes, eighthed
• Finely chopped onion
• 1 peach, diced finely
• Salt, pepper, chilly powder, cumin
• Very small splash white wine vinegar - the peach should be juicy enough to add juice into the salsa

Pupusas:

• Masa harina
• Water, enough to form a soft, not sticky dough
• Shredded cheese and salsa (see above)

I marinated the fish for about 2 hours in the refrigerator - simply poured the marinade of the top of the fish in a pyrex. I later laid out the fish on my toaster oven's pan with space in between, filled with pieces of shredded cabbage, and the marinade poured over the top. I cooked at about 400 for 15  minutes, then decreased to 300 while the hubby finished doing the dishes (an additional 10 or so). The fish is done when it will flake apart and the marinade is simmering.

I made the pupusas after i put the fish in the oven and kept them on a moist cloth until ready to cook - three at a time in a pan on medium until browned on each side. The salsa i made first thing in the morning so the flavors would amalgamate for most of the day.

This marinade was seriously the most delicious thing that has entered my mouth oriface in a LONG TIME. It tasted much like my favorite Thai curry and soup dishes because of the unique flavor of the kaffir leaves. I have 2 kaffir lime plants that i harvest from, but you can find the leaves for sale in most asian markets and some grocery stores that specialize in unique foods (here that would be Fiesta and Central Market/ Whole Foods). It was spicy, but not TOO spicy, as the salsa was VERY spicy consisting mostly of peppers with a few tomatoes instead of the other way around.

Try not to salivate all over your computer  :)

A big PS:

My friend Marigold is hosting a really super awesome and unique giveaway on her blog: a handcrafted Waldorf inspired doll. The doll is really beautiful (and worth $125!) and would make an excellent gift to some special young person. Check out the post for more details on how to enter to win. I know many of my readers are parents looking to live the best life with their children that they can - and this doll is a really wonderful alternative to Barbies or GI Joes and all the gender stereotypes and nasty carbon based (i assume) plastics that go with them.

Don't forget to enter my GIVEAWAY as well! One and a half weeks left to win! Yay for free stuff!

Egg and Tomato Salads - Bounties of Summer

Today is the last official day of my venture in kid friendly, low heat recipes (thank goodness!) but i will have one more recipe next week that is sure to please most kids, and my desire to avoid processed foods. One of our few food vices are Morningstar Farms' 'chicken' nuggets. They're vegetarian and taste just like chicken, without the grease, nasty animal parts, or other questionable textures of real chicken nuggets - but clearly they're highly processed. So, next week i'll be trying my hand at homemade nuggets using ground turkey. One day we'll have our own poultry and goats to grind up into nuggets and sausage, but baby steps, baby steps: my first try will be with store bought ground turkey.

Anyhoo, today i've got two recipes, both utilizing my Summer's bounty. This is the time of year i long for all Winter! The time of year where i can walk into my yard, suffer a million mosquito bites, and enjoy a fresh dinner comprising solely of homegrown veg and herb. Since it's never quite the same, thrown together based on what is ripe, i don't usually post the recipe - but last night's dinner was just so yummy and beautiful i thought i'd post it. All the veggies can be interchanged to some degree, but what's better than freshly picked homegrown tomatoes and cucumbers??? I can't think of anything.

Summer Salad

• Freshly picked homegrown tomatoes. I used Porter Improved and Japanese Black Trifele (which tastes a lot like Cherokee Purple, very rich and meaty, but is way more productive. Always pick at blush or with green shoulders, and eat with green shoulders or they taste almost rotten)
• 1 freshly picked lemon cucumber. Could use 2, i only had one ready.
• Nice bunch of lemon basil
• Pinch garlic chives
• 1 small  red onion
• Several cloves of  garlic
• Salt and Pepper
• Cayenne and Chilly powders - could use fresh or dried peppers
• 1 cob fresh corn, boiled lightly, kernels removed
• Splash balsalmic
• Very light drizzle olive oil
• Optional chunks of homemade cheese, or feta or mozz

Simply chop all the ingredients - finely or chunky depending how you like it. Add vinegar and olive oil and seasonings and stir it up. I served mine with some pieces of sausage - mostly for the husband. I just can't get enough of dinner stirred up from Summer sunshine!!
This is similar to salsa, so if your kiddos like salsa you could chop all of these ingredients finely and serve as such, or just add cucumbers to all your favorite salsa recipes.

Egg Salad Plus

• 4 boiled eggs, chopped and mushed
• 1 very small onion finely chopped - may omit for kid friendly version
• Pinch of garlic chives, scallion, or one clove garlic - may omit most of the raw veg for kid friendliness
• Fresh Genovese basil, about 3 leaves finely chopped
• Dash cayenne
• 3 strips turkey bacon cooked and chopped fine
• Smoked paprika - hot or sweet, good pinch
• Spoon full of homemade mayo (which tastes very mustardy)
• Two spoons of mustard - dijon or brown
• Note: you don't need much mayo or mustard and can omit the mayo completely and just spread mayo on the sandwich bread for mayo likers
• Salt and Pepper
• Sundried tomatoes would also be really good

Cook the bacon to desired blackness. I added half the onions in with the bacon to absorb the bacony goodness and cook a little which both softens and mellows the onions. In the future, i may do this with all the onions as the raw onions add an in congruent crunch and a little too much zesty-heat. Mush all together and mix in bacon. That's about it! Will keep a few days so you can double the recipe to have more on hand in the fridge. We're going out of town this weekend, so this batch is for travel lunches or snacks on crackers. I love how brightly colored my egg salad is - gotta love those Summery hens - prolific layers! I'll miss those fresh eggs when they stop laying as much later in the season.

So, off we go to celebrate our first anniversary as a wedded couple! It's been a wonderful year so far, and i look forward to many more in the future. It is so wonderful to spend ones life with ones best friend: especially when he loves my cooking as much as he does! Have a great weekend, everyone. I'll be back to posting on Tuesday.