Fish & Green Beans in Pipian Sauce

I adapted this recipe from a Rick Bayless recipe in his cookbook, Mexican Everyday.  I used more veggies and simplified the cooking just a bit.  I highly recommend his cookbook.  He makes cooking authentic Mexican food an easy thing to do on a week night.  He also gives great tips for using various ingredients and making vegetarian versions.  I have made many of the recipes from this cookbook!

Fish & Green Beans in Pipian Sauce

1 Jar of store-bought Green Salsa*
1 Cup Chicken Broth 
1 1/2 Tb Olive Oil
1 C Pepitas (green pumpkin seed kernels)**
Salt
1/4 to 1/2 tsp sugar
2 Cups Green Beans or Peas (fresh or frozen)
Four 4 - 5 oz Skinless Fish Fillets (salmon, halibut, walleye, snapper or striped bass)
1/4 Cup Chopped Cilantro

In a blender or food processor, process the salsa, broth and pepitas until a smooth puree.  Heat the oil in a very large (12 inch) skillet over medium heat.  When it is quite hot, add the puree all at once.  Stir as the puree reduces and gets thicker, about 10 minutes.  Take care that the mixture doesn't stick.  If it seems coarse, process again in a lightly covered blender to smooth it out.  Taste and season with salt and sugar.  (The sugar will help balance the natural tartness of the salsa.)

While the sauce is simmering, pour the peas or green beans into a microwaveable bowl, sprinkle on a tablespoon of water, cover and heat on high until veggies are hot and tender.  Discard the water.  

When the sauce has simmered for 10 minutes, nestle the fish fillets in it, completely submerging them.  Continue simmering gently until the fish flakes when pressed firmly, usually 5 to 6 minutes for 1/2 inch thick fillets.  

Transfer a fish fillet to each dinner plate.  Spoon a portion of the sauce over the top.  Serve with the peas or green beans and cilantro.  Eat it up!  
___________________

*Salsa Verde

You should be able to find this at a local grocery store.  I particularly like the Safeway brand Salsa Verde Medium, Herdez Salsa Verde and Frontera brand.  You can make a salsa verde using tomatillos.  I'll include a recipe for that in the next week.  You can make this recipe as hot as you like depending on the spiciness of the salsa.  You can also add more tomatillos to a hotter salsa to lessen the heat.  

**Pepitas

You can often find these at local Mexican grocery stores.  You can also order them online.  I found them at:

Nuts Online

Boxed Greens (organic)

Week Review - 9/26 - 10/02

This week was rough.  We've had sick kids and have now gotten sick ourselves.  Still, my people had to eat, so here's what I made them.  Looking back, I guess we ate pretty well.

Sunday
 
Marco and the kids ate these awesome uncured hot dogs from Whole Foods.  I no longer eat beef, so I ate salad with leftover chicken.  It was a super quick dinner after a long day.
 
Monday
 
Peanut Soup
 
I got inspired by an old friend to make peanut soup.  I've made a peanut soup before that had butternut squash and tomatoes.  What I made was not as good, but I have posted a few links to some great recipes and some tips on how to make it better!
 
Tuesday
 
Albondigas al Chipotle and Garlic Rice
 
I used a recipe from my Rick Bayless cookbook, Mexican Every Day.  I highly recommend this cookbook.  He has taken classic Mexican recipes and simplified them for people to make for weeknight dinners.  This was really easy.  The entire dinner, including the rice and salad took me 45 minutes.  I was able to use mostly produce from our garden, including the mint in the meatballs.  I find it hard to find ground pork, especially humane, hormone-free ground pork.  Fortunately, I found some at Whole Foods.
 

 
Wednesday
 
All hell broke loose on Wednesday.  The car was in the shop.  Marco was stuck in traffic.  It was pouring rain.  So, my people ate fish sticks and tomatoes.  Marco and I ate leftover peanut soup.
 
Thursday
 
Pasta with Potatoes and Broccoli

 
I found this recipe in Food Network Magazine that incorporated a bunch of stuff I had on hand.  I modified it to use a pasta that is easy for little fingers to pick up.  They have trouble with spaghetti.  Everyone loved this.  Well, the short people did avoid the broccoli.  But Marco and I really liked it.  I tried to keep it fairly low fat.  
 
Friday
 
We splurged and walked down to our little neighborhood Mexican restaurant, Fajita Coast.  It was so nice to relax.  I had some really good ceviche.
 
Saturday
 
Fun times were had at our neighbor's cookout.  I contributed grown up mac-n-cheese (with bacon, red onion and spinach) that was enjoyed by many.  The babies gobbled this up too!  I'm on a diet and could not partake, but I did sample it (seriously yummy).
 
Grown Up Mac-n-Cheese

Grown Up Mac-n-Cheese

Cheese Sauce:
3 C Havarti, grated
2 C milk
3 Tb butter
3/4 C flour


6 slices bacon, cut into small pieces
4 C spinach, roughly chopped
1 red onion, chopped finely
1 box of pasta (I always use whole wheat, I love the nutty texture)


Start your water for the pasta.  Meanwhile, cook the bacon until crispy.  Strain out the bacon, reserving the fat.  Cook the onions in the bacon fat until they are nice and soft and browning.  Set those aside.  Combine the butter with the remaining bacon fat.  


Cook the pasta according to the instructions.


Melt that over medium high heat, then add the flour.  Cook this, stirring constantly, for about 5 minutes.  Careful not to let this burn.  After the 5 minutes, pour in the milk, stirring constantly with a whisk.  Cook at medium high for about 10 minutes until the mixture starts to thicken and loses its flour flavor.  Add the cheese and let it melt. 


Mix the cheese sauce, bacon, spinach, onion and pasta.  Salt to taste.  Eat it.  Get fat. 

Pasta with Broccoli and Potatoes

This is a reprint of a recipe I found in my Food Network Magazine (September 2010).  It's a great magazine with tons of amazing recipes!  Check it out!  I made some minor changes that are noted.


Kosher salt
2 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 large bunch broccoli, florets and some chopped stems
12 oz pasta (I use only whole wheat pasta)
4 Tb unsalted butter (I did not use this)
2 leeks, white and light green parts only, sliced into half-moons (I did not use this)
Freshly ground pepper
1 head Boston lettuce, torn (I used fresh spinach)
1 1/2 C grated fontina cheese (about 4 oz)
1/2 C grated parmesan cheese (about 1 oz)
(I used a total of 1 C of a cheese mix of parmesan, asiago and fontina)

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Add the potatoes and cook 10 minutes, then add the broccoli and pasta and cook as the pasta label directs.
2. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the leeks, 11/2 tsp salt and pepper to taste.  cook until soft, about 7 minutes.  (I did not do this)
3. Put the spinach in a colander.  Reserve 1 cup cooking liquid, then drain the pasta, broccoli and potatoes over the spinach to wilt it.  Return the pasta and vegetables to the pot.
4. Add the cheese and season with salt and pepper.

Babies rejected the broccoli and potatoes.  Maya cried.  Marco ate two helpings.  I struggled to only eat one helping.  It was really good.  

Albondigas al Chipotle & Garlic Rice

The original recipe I got from my Rick Bayless cookbook, Mexican Every Day.  It is the BEST cookbook.  I highly recommend buying it.  This is what I made, from his recipe.  Basically, I just doubled it and got three meals out of it!  The garlic rice recipe is basically from my mother-in-law, though usually I use onions too.  But the garlic alone makes it really rich and creamy tasting.
 
Meatballs:
6 slices bacon, cut into small pieces
6 garlic cloves, peeled (divided use)
3 large eggs
1 C bread crumbs
salt
2 lbs ground pork
1 C (loosely packed) coarsely chopped mint leaves, plus extra leaves fro garnish, if you wish
 
Sauce:
2 28 oz. can diced tomatoes in juice (preferably fire-roasted)
2 - 4 canned chipotle chiles en adobo, stemmed and seeded
2 - 4 Tb chipotle canning sauce
2 tsp dried oregano, preferably Mexican
About 3 C chicken stock 
 
Garlic Rice:
4 cloves garlic
1 bullion cube
4 C water
2 C brown rice
1 Tb oil (Canola or EVOO)

1. Turn on the oven to 450 degrees.  Then, start making the rice.  Saute the garlic.  Once it's done, blend it with the chicken stock (water and bullion cube).  Use this garlic liquid to cook your rice according to the instructions. (Usually takes about 45 minutes)
2. Using the food processor, combine the bacon and 2 garlic cloves.  Process until finely chopped.  Add the eggs, bread crumbs and 1 tsp salt.  Pulse several times to combine thoroughly.  Using your hands, combine this mixture with the ground pork.  It will be too much to mix it in the food processor.  Don't over mix it.  
3. Form the meatballs into plum-size spheres.  Space them out in a greased 13x9-inch baking dish.  I used two.  Bake until lightly browned (they'll be browned more underneat than on top), about 15 minutes.
4. While the meatballs are baking, combine the tomatoes with their juice, chipotles, canning sauce, oregano, the remaining garlic cloves and 1/2 tsp salt into the food processor or blender.  Process to a smooth puree.
5. When the meatballs are ready, spoon off any rendered fat from the baking dish, then pour on the tomato mixture, covering the meatballs evenly.  Bake until the sauce looks like tomato paste, 15 to 20 minutes.
6. Microwave the broth for 1 minute to heat it.  Once the meatballs are done, mix the broth in with the tomato sauce and meatballs.

I made enough with this recipe to feed our family and my dad and froze two bags of meatballs and sauce for future meals.  I did not add the broth to the freezer bags.  I'll add that when I defrost them.  When I defrost, I'll update this recipe with how they came out.  Rick Bayless mentions that you can use lamb or beef for these if you do not eat pork.  We prefer the pig. :)