Category Archives: Dinner

Guacamole Fish Tacos

Living in Southern California, it is pretty much a prerequisite that you must love guacamole.  And yet, I don’t have it often enough!  But in the spirit of the 2015 cookbook challenge and to celebrate the return of Portlandia, I decided to make Guacamole Fish Tacos from the Portlandia Cookbook.

guacamole fish tacosI’ll be honest, this recipe was pretty straightforward and easy to make.  The main modification I made was with the fish.  The original recipe called for red snapper (which I love), but we are both trying to be more conscientious about our seafood choices thanks to Seafood Watch, so we opted for wild sole and rockfish from Santa Monica Seafood.  Another good seafood tip?  Buy wild over farm raised and fresh over frozen as often as possible.

santa monica seafoodOnce we got our fish, the rest of the recipe came together pretty quickly.  We whipped up the guacamole, sautéed the fish and vegetables, assembled the slaw and warmed up the tortillas.  The great thing about fish tacos is you can customize them however you want, as long as there’s guacamole involved of course.

guacamole fish tacos taco bar

One of my lovely friends from LA joined us for dinner and we created a build your own taco bar with all of the fixings.  I knew this recipe was a winner when there wasn’t a drop of guacamole left after.

fish tacos and cheese

Guacamole Fish Tacos (adapted from the Portlandia Cookbook)

Ingredients:

1 lb fresh fish (see note above)

4 avocados, mashed

1 red onion, chopped

1 cup diced tomatoes

1/2 cup fresh squeezed lime juice

2 tbsp chopped cilantro

salt and pepper to taste

flour tortillas

sour cream or other cheese for topping (I used Tillamook Cheese)

Directions:

Grill your fish to your liking (I also recommend baking in parchment paper)

While you fish is cooking, assemble the guacamole ingredients in a large bowl and mix until everything is well blended.  Since many people have different preferences to how they like their guacamole, I recommend seasoning to your liking.

Warm your tortillas in the oven.  Assemble your fish taco, devour, and repeat.

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

The 2015 cookbook challenge is still in full swing!  Last week, I shared the Braised Winter Cabbage and Potatoes from Thug Kitchen, and this week I’m coming at you with another cabbage recipe in the form of Stuffed Cabbage Rolls from Practical Paleo.

While I don’t follow a strict paleo diet, I really love a lot of the recipes in the Practical Paleo cookbook.  The book uses a lot of different meats (like bison!) and offers different meal plans depending on your activity level/dietary restrictions.  I’ve made a couple of things from the book now, and these stuffed cabbage rolls were absolutely delicious.

The original recipe calls for ground beef, but the Englishman and I decided to lighten it up a bit and used wild boar for the meat.  We also omitted the cranberry sauce, but followed the rest of the recipe to a T.

As someone who used to HATE cabbage, I really enjoyed the Stuffed Cabbage Rolls from Practical Paleo.  I will say this was a more time-consuming recipe than I anticipated (probably because it was our first time doing it) and our rolls kind of fell apart in the dutch oven, but it was still quite tasty.

stuffed cabbage rolls

We served this dish with a side of roast potatoes, but it would also be quite nice over rice or even pasta.  The sky is the limit on this one!

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls (from Practical Paleo)

Ingredients:

1 lb Wild Boar (or other meat of your choice)

1 head green cabbage

1 can diced tomatoes

1 cup chopped cauliflower

2 tbsp olive oil

3 shallots

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350F.

Steam your cabbage until it is nice and tender.  We technically do not have a steamer, so we made do with what we had.

While your cabbage is steaming, shred your cauliflower into small pieces.  Saute in a skillet over low head with olive oil, your shallots, and salt and pepper.

Place your meat in a bowl and add the cauliflower mixture.  Mix until everything is well blended and set aside.

Remove your steamed cabbage and peel off layers for filling.  Gently scoop your meat into the cabbage layers and roll tightly (like a burrito).

Add your canned tomatoes to your dutch oven (or other deep cooking pot) and gently place your rolls on top of the sauce.  Cover and bake for 45-50 minutes.

Remove from the oven and enjoy your delicious rolls!

Life Lately

I’m having a hard time believing that we are already halfway through December and Christmas is just a mere few days away.  I feel like the month (year) is flying by and I’m not even prepared.  I still need to bake cookies and watch all my holiday favorites! That being said, here’s a glimpse into life lately:

I never blogged about it but after we ran the Big Sur Half Marathon we drove down to Solvang to hang out at our favorite winery and stay for the night.  We had dinner at Succulent Cafe and these brussels sprouts were amazing and I can’t stop thinking about them.

brussels sprouts and bacon

The restaurant also had these cool little lights in mason jars and I want to re-create this in my house.

mason jar lightsNow that it’s FINALLY feeling like winter here I’m all about the tea, all the time.  Holiday teas are in full rotation around here but I also love matcha green tea with almond milk. With a side of Christmas tree.

tea and christmas tree_1I’m also still on the rose train and love throwing together a little cheese/fruit/nut plate and enjoying a glass on the weekend.  It’s my own little happy hour.

wine and cheese

I’m currently trying to come up with more recipes to use Dark Chocolate Dreams so I don’t just eat it straight from the jar…

flourless chocolate peppermint cookies

We had friends over for a paella party and I didn’t snap a pic of the paella!  But I did get a shot of our half-eaten appetizers.

paella party tapasKarla got me the Thug Kitchen cookbook for Christmas (because she’s the coolest) and I made the maple oat banana bread from it.  Amazing.

thugkitchen

I made peppermint bark this weekend so now I can officially say the holidays are here.  I think I need to make my salted coconut almond bark next.

peppermintbark_slabAnd just for good measure, here’s a pic of Pip.

pippageNow who’s ready for Christmas?

Commissary at the Line Hotel

When I lived in LA, I never took enough advantage of all the wonderful food options that the city has to offer.  And now that I live in Orange County, I find myself lusting after many of these places that would be deemed a foodie paradise, one of these being Commissary at the Line Hotel.

commissary green houseI’ve been a big fan of Roy Choi since he first had the Kogi truck, and after reading Lynn and Emily’s reviews, I knew I had to check out Commissary at the Line Hotel myself.  The Englishman and I made our way up to LA to join one of our favorite couples who are always down to go on a foodie adventure.

The Line Hotel is located in the heart of Koreatown and Commissary is located on the second floor.  The inside of the restaurant looks like a giant greenhouse, but we ended up sitting outside on the terrace for dinner.  Upon being seated, I was quite amused at the mismatched silverware.

commissary at the line hotel silverwareWe were presented with our “menu,” which from reading prior reviews I knew was just a card with different pictures of proteins and vegetables on it.  I should also mention that I did tell the waiter beforehand that I had some food allergies and he was quite helpful in steering me in the right direction.

commissary at the line hotel menu

Commissary also has an eclectic drink menu, but since I was the driver for the evening I kept it simple and stuck to a glass of wine.

commissary at the line hotel wineThe table decided to order a bunch of dishes and share them family style, which was perfect. Our first dish was poached eggs in a spicy tomato sauce.  And it was fabulous.

commissary at the line hotel eggsI had been craving grilled cheese ever since the movie Chef, and after hearing Commissary had the grilled cheese from the movie, we knew we had to order it.  We actually ordered two to make sure everyone could indulge in cheesy goodness.

commissary at the line hotel grilled cheeseThis wasn’t a fancy grilled cheese by any means, but it took me straight back to childhood. American cheese on buttered bread and grilled to perfection.  Loved the pickle on the side as well.

No grilled cheese is complete without a side order of fries so we got those as well.  They were seasoned perfectly with just a little salt and pepper.

commissary at the line hotel friesOther items that we ordered but I didn’t photograph included the roasted carrots (order these if you ever go), fresh tomatoes and roasted sea bass.

Of course no meal is complete without dessert so we decided to go for the lemon curd with rhubarb and the stone fruit with what I think was flavored crushed ice (not too sure since it was a surprise!)

commissary at the line hotel rhubarbBoth desserts were fabulous but I loved the lemon curd with rhubarb.  You don’t see rhubarb often in restaurants so it was a treat to be able to order that.  The menu changes pretty frequently at Commissary since they stay in season, but if you ever see a rhubarb dessert on the menu order it.

I really enjoyed my experience at Commissary at the Line Hotel.  It was refreshing to just point at images and then have dishes be brought out.  I’d like to return to try brunch too!