This was so good. It satisfies the hungry-hungry-not-easily-appeased Mexican food craving but also it’s fish so it’s healthy for you. Not a lot more to say. I will let the images do the talking.

Oh, here’s a good thing to know — you will need at least two oranges for this recipe (based on halibut for two people). If your oranges are small or not very juicy you will need maybe three. So, uh, just buy three and be safe.

Chile-Glazed Halibut with Avocado-Tomatillo Sauce
Adapted from Bon Appétit magazine
Glaze
6 tbsp fresh orange juice (about 1 large orange)
6 tbsp honey
1 1/2 teaspoons minced canned chipotle chiles
1 garlic clove, coarsely chopped
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp chopped cilantro

Sauce
1 large avocado, halved, pitted, peeled
1 big handful cilantro
1/4 cup tomatillo salsa
1/4 cup fresh orange juice (about another large orange, maybe one and a half)
1/4 tsp (or more) hot pepper sauce

Fish
2 6-8 ounce halibut fillets (each about 1 inch thick)
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 orange with skin, thinly sliced crosswise (if it works out for you well, you can use other half of the orange you used for juice for the avocado sauce)
Ground cumin
1 bell pepper, cut into strips
4 green onions, cut into 4 inch pieces

For glaze: Mix all ingredients in blender or food processor until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.

For Sauce: Combine all ingredients in blender or food processor; blend until smooth.

For fish: Make crosswise slits in each fillet, cutting to within 1/4 inch of bottom and spacing slits about 3/4 inch apart. Brush glaze over top and into slits. Place orange slices in slits.

Heat a grill pan or skillet. Add the olive oil. Sprinkle fish with ground cumin, salt, and pepper. Place fish, orange side down. Grill for about 2 minutes. Add the bell peppers and green onions to the pan.

Flip over the fish and cover and cook until fish is opaque, about 6 minutes. Using wide spatula, carefully transfer fish to platter. Let rest several minutes. Spoon avocado sauce onto plates, spreading slightly. Arrange 1 fillet over sauce on each plate and serve.

On the side we had black beans and the sauteed bell peppers. Okay, fine, there was also cheese involved. But, this was really one of the most awesome halibut dishes ever. Probably even if there had been no cheese involved. Evah!

I recently came across Running with Tweezers call for chili recipes and I remembered that I had the most perfect cookbook for this — Chili Nation by Jane and Michael Stern. This is basically a collection of 50 chili recipes, one from every state. Now normally, when I make chili, it’s veggie chili and I just throw a bunch of stuff in a pot. But, since I had an actual chili cookbook, I decided to follow (well, kind of) an actual recipe.

So, I went with Montana and the “Working Person’s Green Chili Bowl”. Supposedly, it is from a tiny place called El Burrito in Billings, MT. I wussed out on all the peppers, though. The original recipe calls for 6 New Mexico chiles. Intead, I used 2 pasilla chile peppers and 1 poblano chile pepper. Wimpy! I know, but I didn’t want it to be too hot for my delicate lady mouth.

Let’s see, I also added beans. I just really prefer beans in my chili. I used white kidney beans and they worked really well. But, if you don’t like beans, the original recipe did not include them, so don’t feel bad about leaving them out. I also doubled the broth and added the cilantro.

Anyway, this book is awesome. I seriously have, like twenty page corners folded down that I want to try. Why did I pick this one? Well, I was very intrigued by the sage and tarragon in a chili recipe. And, after trying it here, I have to say it works. I’m not sure this is my most favorite chili recipe of all time, but I liked it quite a bit! It was a little spicy but not overwhelming and makes a great meal on a cold night.

Working Person’s Fancy Green Chili Bowl
Adapted from a recipe in Chili Nation (Montana), by the Sterns
1 poblano pepper
2 pasilla peppers
1 big handful of cilantro
2 cups chicken broth (original called for 1 cup chicken stock)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 small onion, chopped
2 lb pork tenderloin, trimmed and cut into cubes
1 tsp dried tarragon
1 tsp dried sage
1 tsp ground cumin
1 can white beans, drained
1 tsp salt
Some crumbled goat cheese for the top
Optional: 1 tsp jalapeno powder

Prepare the chiles by placing them under a preheated broiler. Turn when the first side is charred and then blacken the other side.

Place in a plastic bag to steam. You can also wrap them in wet paper towels. When cool enough to handle, peel away the blackened skin and seed. Place the chiles in a blender with broth and cilantro. Puree and set aside.

Heat oil in a large, heavy skillet. Add garlic and onion and saute until soft. Here, I added about half the sage, tarragon and all of the cilantro. Next, add the pork; cook and stir until well browned.

Add chile puree and remaining ingredients (the beans and the remaining spices and the salt) . Stir well. Bring to a simmer over low heat and cook 10-15 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings.

Serve alone or over cooked brown rice. Also, this would be great with tortillas for dipping and, if you want to be a fancy working person, I think some crumbled goat cheese would be awesome on the top. Hmmm, I think I will bring it that way to work tomorrow. Because, yes, I am fancy.

Hope this is a good addition to the chili cook-off!

Ah, a challenge that involves math. How fun. The theme was supplied by Cady at $40 a Week, which as you might see coming, was to spend $40 a week on groceries (per person) and come up with a meal based on those constraints.

Here, I will admit my laziness at not entirely sticking to the challenge as written. Although our grocery budget (for 2) is about $80/week, I didn’t specifically track that and actually, this week, I think we were a tad over since we decided to stock up on some wine.

But, through the magic of calculations, I deduced that if the budget was $40/week, that would work out to $5.72/day. Times two that’s $11.44 per day for two. And sure, that would mean that fish tacos are the only meal of the day but I am assuming that eating out doesn’t count. Right?

Plus, if I don’t see what jwa eats during the day and he doesn’t actually see what I eat — well, then that too doesn’t count. For the record, I had a cereal bar for breakfast and a turkey and cheese sandwich (and cup of lentil soup) for lunch. And I uh, found them. Yeah. I found them so they were free. So, I get the whole $11 amount for the dinner. Hooray!

fish: $4.50
4 corn tortillas: $1
romaine lettuce: $1
1 can beans: .99
1 cup shredded cheese: $1
tomatoes: $1
lime: .33
jalapeno: .20
cilantro: .79
assorted spices: free (’cuz I already had them)
oil: free (see assorted spices)

Total: $10.81 Woo!

This recipe is based on one from Bobby Flay which I’m sure is in one of his cookbooks. And yeah, I still am not a fan but whatever. I’ll use his recipe as long as I don’t have to interact with him or anything. ‘Cause that would be annoying.

Fish Tacos
(Feeds 2)
1/2 pound white flaky fish, such as mahi mahi, tilapia or turbot, which is what I used
1/4 cup canola oil
1 lime, juiced
1 tbsp chili powder
1 jalapeno, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
4 flour tortillas

Garnish:
Shredded romaine lettuce
Hot sauce
Shredded cheddar cheese
Chopped cilantro leaves
Chopped cherry tomatoes

Place fish in a medium size dish. Whisk together the oil, lime juice, chili powder and jalapeno and pour over the fish. Let marinate for 15 to 20 minutes.

Preheat a pan over medium heat. Remove the fish from the marinade place into the hot pan. Grill the fish for 4 minutes on the first side and then flip for 30 seconds and remove. Let rest for 5 minutes then flake the fish with a fork.

Wipe the pan out and return it to the heat. Place a tortilla in the pan and heat for about 30 seconds per side. Divide the fish among the tortillas and garnish with any or all of the garnishes.

Thanks again to $40 a Week for a great and challenging theme!

Ah, the roll of polenta. So full of fun and possibilities. Slice it up and make a lasagna. Have it on the side of some pasta. Leave it in the cabinet and make polenta yourself. All of these options will work just fine. But what about using it in Mexican food? Oh hell, why not?

Like a lot of the recipes I’ve made lately, this one is based on something I saw recently from Bon Apetit (the Too Busy to Cook section). I’m not really too busy to cook of course, just easily intrigued by recipes that call for packaged polenta tubes in an unexpected genre. I saw this one and went, “huh…”. Polenta as a stand in for a tamale, you say? Moosh it all up and make it a tasty Mexican casserole topping, you say? Okay, I say. I’ll give it a try.

The result was actually pretty good. I would definitely make it again. I mean, sure, you could make your own corn meal topping (for a realmale), but if you had a packaged polenta tube on hand, this would be as good a thing to do with it as anything else. And sure, one could argue that the use of packaged polenta is a step in the direction of Sandra Lee, but I would counter that, if used responsibly, nu-uh, it’s really not. So there.

Chicken Fauxmale Pie
1 tbsp canola or vegetable oil
3/4-ish lb skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces, salted and peppered lightly to season
1 tbsp chile powder
1 tbsp cumin
1 clove garlic, minced
1 white onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 jalapeno, deseeded and diced finely (use as much as you want, I think I used about 3/4 of a jalapeno)
1/4 cup salsa of your choice
1/4 cup chicken broth
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 tomatoes, diced
2 big handfuls of fresh baby spinach leaves
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 tube prepared polenta
1 1/2 cups sharp cheddar cheese, diced or shredded
1/4 cup cojita cheese, crumbled

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sauté the onion, bell pepper, jalapeno and garlic in the oil over medium-high heat for a few minutes or until soft and starting to color. Add the cumin, chili powder and the chicken. Continue cooking until the chicken has browned and is mostly done. Add the broth and spinach and stir until the spinach is wilted. Taste and salt as needed.

Next, add the black beans, about 1/4 cup of the cilantro and the diced tomato. It should be a nice, chunky, casserole-filling consistency. Spread it into a 9-inch square baking pan (the size you would use for brownies).

Unwrap the polenta and add to a big bowl. Slice into a few big pieces and then crumble.

I found that using a potato masher was a very quick way to crumble it all up. Add the 1/4 cup salsa and the cojita cheese. Mix that all up together — this will be the fauxmale topping.

Cover the chicken mixture with the cheddar cheese, then spread the fauxmale mixture on top of that.

Here, you could spray the top of the casserole with a little olive oil to encourage browning. That’s what I did and I was pretty pleased with the results.

Bake the casserole, uncovered, until heated through, golden on top and chicken-salsa mixture starts to bubble up, about 35 - 40 minutes.

Serve with sour cream for garnish and the rest of the cilantro.

***
Off to Ashland Sunday for a quick overnight, a play, dinner at the Winchester Inn and a look at the Peerless Hotel for a Wedding08 contender.

I just made this to bring to a potluck at work and I think I’m in love with it. jwa and I had some for dinner tonight (I made extra) and it was so good. I highly recommend it. I’ve adapted it from Bon Appétit magazine, by adding the cheese, cilantro and tortilla strips. Oh and a little hot sauce.

Funny story — when I read through the recipe I could have sworn it said “figs”, to which I thought, oh! awesome, I have just about that many in a bag at home!. Then, when I got ready to make the salad, I reread the recipe and realized it said “dates”. Oops. Well, I used the dried figs anyway and I think they worked just fine. Dates (or figs) and honey may sound weird in a dressing for black beans, but it all comes together very well. I did find that I really did like it with a few dashes of the green Tabasco sauce, though.

The salad would probably also be very good with a diced avocado added to the mix — this was jwa’s suggestion. I think it’s a pretty good one.

Black Bean Salad with Bell Peppers and Tortilla Strips
Serves 6-8

Vinaigrette
1/2 cup water
16 dates (about 4 ounces), pitted, chopped — or, you know, figs’ll work too
1/2 cup fresh lime juice (3-4 limes, depending on how much juice you get from each one)
6 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 tbsp dried oregano
4 tsp honey
4 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
dash or two of hot sauce (I used jalapeno Tabasco)
salt & pepper

Salad
4 15-ounce cans black beans, rinsed, drained
1 chopped red bell pepper
1 chopped yellow or orange bell pepper (I used a little of both kinds)
1 chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup crumbled Cotija cheese (you could substitute cubed cheddar or crumbled feta)
3 corn tortillas, halved , then cut into strips
1/3 cup canola oil
salt

Boil water and dates in heavy small saucepan for 2 minutes. Remove from heat; cover and let stand 1 hour to soften.

Transfer date mixture to blender. Add lime juice, oil, oregano, honey, cumin and coriander. Then purée. The mixture will be nice and thick. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (This can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Let stand 1 hour at room temperature before using.)

Heat oil in a large skillet and fry the tortilla strips (in batches if necessary), until crisp. Salt and let cool on paper towels.

Combine beans, bell peppers, onion, cheese and cilantro in large bowl. Toss with enough vinaigrette to coat nicely. Taste and season with salt and pepper if needed. Top with tortilla strips.

And look — your compost pile will be happy too!