Bailey (in middle) sandwiched between two dog pals, Kona (left) and Misha (right) |
Misha and Bailey being mischievous |
Fish taco with crunchy squash topping on quinoa flour tortilla |
Today, Kona (just turned 13 years) decided to greet the UPS man by jumping in his truck while he was in the back fetching a package. Imagine his surprise when he turned around to see Kona wagging her tail to greet him in hopes of retrieving a doggie bone. Of course, her efforts were rewarded.
In the meantime, Misha and little scrapper Bailey are doing their version of "wrestle mania" over on the grass lawn. Bailey can hold his own despite being outweighed 3:1. First, Bailey is on top; then Misha: and so on and so forth. Finally one of them squeals, "I give up," and the match ends.
In between all this entertainment, I found the opportunity to make fish tacos with the quinoa flour tortillas I posted about last time. Find the recipe for the tortillas at: http://catsinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2011/06/quinoa-tortillas.html
Fish Tacos with Crunchy Squash Topping and Butternut Spread on Quinoa Tortillas
Ingredients for two tacos:
- 2 fish filets such as perch or tilapia (use wild caught)
- 1-2 T. quinoa flour for breading
- 1/2 small spaghetti squash, baked until fork tender in oven or microwave
- 1/2 small butternut squash, baked until fork tender in oven or microwave
- 1 T. unsweetened sunbutter
- 1/4 cup hemp milk or alternative dairy beverage
- 1 cup shredded red cabbage
- 1/2 cup diced jicama
- 2 T. chopped green onion
- optional: chopped cilantro
- 2 T. + grapeseed or other oil
- salt and pepper to taste
- Several hours ahead or a day ahead, bake the squashes, either in the microwave or oven, until fork tender. Keep in the fridge until ready to use.
- Prepare the shredded cabbage, jicama and green onion, and refrigerate until ready to use.
- Rinse fish filets and roll them in quinoa flour, mixed with a little salt and pepper.
- Heat 1 T. oil in a large skillet. Crispy fry the fish filets. Wrap in foil and keep warm in the oven. (For extra flavor, add 1/2 tsp. of cumin to your flour coating. For extra crunch, add some ground whole quinoa to your flour mixture.)
- Heat quinoa flour tortillas in the oven on low setting. Wrap in foil until ready to use.
- Scoop out the flesh from the squashes. Keep them separate.
- Take the butternut squash flesh and place it in a food processor with 1 T. sunbutter and 1/4 cup alternative dairy beverage, such as hemp milk. Adjust the hemp milk if needed. Add some salt and pepper if desired. Blend until smooth. Set aside for serving with the tacos.
- Heat additional oil in a clean skillet. Toss in the stringy pieces of spaghetti squash and fry until crispy. Remove to a paper towel.
To plate up the tacos, place 1 T. butternut squash mixture on each tortilla and spread. On top of this, place a crispy fish filet, cabbage, jicama and green onion. Finally, top with crunchy spaghetti squash.