Dinner · Main Course · Party Food

Pork Adobada Tacos

we just got back from visiting family in california. we went from a wet 2 degrees up to a solid 70 with sunshine. it was glorious. for maybe the first time my loyalty to the PNW wavered just a bit. especially once i bit into the juiciest, sweetest grapefruit fresh from a tree. yuuuummmm. i could live life down there.

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a group of us ventured out to universal studios and fulfilled our lifelong dream of visiting hogwarts! just for a well balanced day, i faced my *worst* nightmares going through the walking dead attraction. they actually make you walk through and it is terrifying, but not as terrifying as when you get fake attacked by someone in your own group once you think you’re safe. i scream loud.

all in all it was good fun and then we went out for tacos.

there is a little taco place near the fam’s place that everyone is obsessed with. that taco place, they PILE on the guacamole and they are just overflowing with all the meat and salsa. in a totally uncharacteristic move, i didn’t take any pictures!

when we got back home i couldn’t get tacos out of my head! i found the recipe for pork adovada from The Food Lab. i used two versions of dried new mexico chilies (normal? and spicy) because that’s what i could find at the store. this makes a super saucy pot of spicy, fall apart pork. perfect in a corn tortilla, or on a pile of greens.

minimal taco.

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overstuffed taco.

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Dinner · Soup

Duck Quinoa Soup

One of the *hardest* things about living in an apartment with a little pup is having to bundle up a half dozen times a day for bathroom trips.  I crave hot tea and soup in my life so much more now that I can’t hide under blankets for days at a time. This cutie’s face is absolutely worth it:

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I just happened to have a couple of ducks worth of bones from duck confit, and I LOVE how this turned out.

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Ingredients

2 duck’s worth of bones

2 sweet onions, quartered

2 heads of garlic, cut in half

4 carrots, rough chopped

1 bunch of celery, rough chopped

2 cups of Quinoa/Wild rice (note that this makes a very thick soup, add less if desired)

3 dried bay leafs

1 tsp dried rosemary

drizzle of olive oil

1/2 sweet onion, diced

1 carrot, diced

1/3 cup whiskey

salt

pepper


Directions: Add the duck bones, onions, garlic, carrots, and celery to a large stockpot. Add just enough water to cover the contents of the pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, and skim foam and excess fat that floats to the top. Simmer for 2 hours. Add the bay leaf, rosemary, simmer for 20 more minutes. Strain the solids from the broth.

Add olive oil to the stock pot and sauté  the onions until translucent. Add the diced carrots. Deglaze the pot with whiskey and scrape up any tasty bits with a wooden spoon. Pour the broth back into the stockpot, add salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil and add the Quinoa and/or wild rice. Boil until grains are tender. Adjust seasoning, if necessary.

Dinner · Fish · Grilling · Main Course

Margarita Fish Tacos

This recipe is from a couple of summers ago.  I thought I would post this here to remind myself, and to share with you guys, this refreshing twist on fish tacos! I didn’t include precise measurements because I just whipped this up. Marinades are pretty forgiving, so just add everything according to your own preferences and enough to coat however much fish you’re preparing. Any firm white fish will work for this.

 

Margarita Fish Tacos

~1/2 jalapeño

~3 garlic cloves, mined finely (or grated)

1 lime, zested and juiced

1 shot of tequila

~1/3 cup olive oil

small handful of lemon mint, chopped

salt

2 fillets fish-whatever is your favorite taco fish (we used cod this time)

taco fixings (tortilla at the very minimum)

Finely chop the jalapeño, garlic cloves, and lemon mint. Add to a shallow dish or gallon bag. Add your lime juice, tequila, and olive oil. Season with salt to taste. Mix. Add fish. Marinate for up to 30 minutes. You don’t want to leave the fish so long that it cooks in the lime juice. Grill over medium heat until the fish is flaky and opaque. At this point, I chop any veggies I want in my tacos, add them to a foil packet, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt, and throw them on the grill until nice and tender. Warm your tortillas; assemble tacos!

Microplanes are so handy! Add lime rind and use it to get ultra fine pieces of garlic.

Lemon mint from the patio garden
Lime, mint, garlic, tequila, olive oil marinade
Lime, mint, garlic, tequila, jalapeño, and olive oil marinade
Marinate fish for about 30 minutes.
Marinate fish for about 30 minutes. Flip about halfway through to make sure everything is nice and covered.
Grill over medium heat until perfectly cooked!
Grill over medium heat until cooked!
Prepare your taco fixings! Sliced red bell pepper and onions, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with salt.
Prepare your taco fixings! Sliced red bell pepper and onions, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt.
Assemble! We added a little bit of greek yogurt, spinach, cheddar, and avocado.
Assemble! We added a little bit of greek yogurt, spinach, cheddar, and avocado.