Fish Tacos – my favorite

Saturday night in Avalon, I had brought fixins to make my interpretation of the chopped salad that is one of my summer lunch favorites at La Esquina; their Ensalada Mixta. It is a delicious bowl of fresh chopped veggies (napa cabbage, radish, avocado, jicama, grilled corn and greens) lightly dressed with a lime vinaigrette and queso fresco. But in the end I was inspired by the napa cabbage to make Fish Tacos as I was missing too many elements to recreate this salad.

The fish market had Mahi-Mahi, it was deliciously fresh and according to Epicurious.com it is the most common fish taco fish. I got a thick 1 lb steak that we rubbed with olive oil and seasoned with sal y pepe.

For the Slaw -
1/2 napa cabbage cored and sliced thin
1 cucumber cubed
1 ear of grilled corn cut off the ear
1/2 sweet white onion diced
chopped cilantro & chives (for flavor and color)

For the dressing -
Plain yogurt (2 tbls)
1/2 jalapeno finely minced (or more if you like it spicy)
olive oil (2 tbls)
rice vinegar (1 tbls)
juice of one lime
pimenton – sweet Spanish paprika
sal y pepe

In a salad bowl, combine the yogurt, jalapeno and olive oil. Beat with a fork and slowly add enough vinegar for it to come together as a thick dressing. Add the lime juice and stir to combine.

Toss in all the veggies (minus the fresh herbs) so they are well coated with the dressing. Add the sal y pepe and the pimenton to taste. You may want to add more jalapeno, vinegar or lime depending on tastes. Let stand, tossing every 5 to 10 minutes for about 20 to 40 minutes. Do not prepare too far in advance as the veggies will get soggy and lose their crunch.

Grill the Mahi-Mahi on a hot grill skin side down. About 10+ minutes.

Heat up flour or corn tortillas. Cut the fish into thick slices. Sprinkle the fresh herbs on the slaw and let everyone make their own tacos.
Serve lime wedges, sliced avocados, crumbled queso fresco (or feta cheese) and hot sauce as toppings.

We enjoyed cold Red Stripe Lager with these.

Juicy, messy but so yummy!

Grilled Grouper with Salsa Fresca

Man walked on the moon for the first time 40 years ago!
Amazing to think about.

This weekend in Avalon we had the rare opportunity for Juan and I to be home alone to fend for ourselves. We cooked a lovely dinner which we enjoyed on the back deck – it was a gorgeous summer night – cool, breezy, quiet and relaxing.

Menu
Grilled Grouper
Salsa Fresca
Corn on the cob with Basil Butter
Salad

Wine
M. Chapoutier Cotes du Rhone Belleruche 2007

• served slightly chilled, this was a lovely addition to the meal. Very gulpable, so much so that after dinner we sat on the rockers and finished the bottle
• 2007 is a great Rhone Valley vintage, a safe purchase

Grilled Grouper – around 5PM I rode my bike over to Sylvesters Fish Market to see what was fresh and good to throw on the grill. The grouper arrived that morning, and as I tend veer away from tuna, salmon and swordfish for various reasons, it was an easy choice. The fish monger said put a little olive oil, salt and pepper and grill it on tinfoil for about 10 – 15 mins. It was perfect!

Salsa Fresca – this is the kind of thing I love to cook. I was thinking a mango salsa for the fish, but we didn’t have any mango, so I went with this:
1/2 ripe avacado cubed
1/4 red bell pepper diced
1 ripe Jersey tomato cubed – they are just starting to come in to season, my dad is very excited!
chopped chives, parsley and cilantro from the garden
Toss these veggies with:
juice of 1 lime
olive oil
rice wine vinegar
pinch of salt
Put it in the fridge for about an hour and smothered it on the freshly grilled fish.

It was all so simple and fresh, with some lit candles we had a lovely, romantic dinner – just the two of us.

I did manage to overcook the corn, as I forgot about it…but for crunchy, fresh corn on the cob steam the ears for 5-7 minutes – better undercooked than overcooked.

After finishing the bottle, parents returned, so we hopped on our bikes for a quick trip to Avalon Freeze to finish off the evening with an ice cream.

Et voila!

New spice to the Full Bottle

We are going to bring new life to the slow evolution of The Full Bottle. As our life and lifestyle change with the arrival of Pilar, we find ourselves eating at home and cooking every night. Now as Pilar has begun to love the table as well, we will be sharing with you our meals, her meals and the drinks that we enjoy with them. With our magic cabinet, Fresh Direct, our local organic CSA, Avalon farm stands and our terrace garden we will share the meals that come from our kitchen – simple, delicious, fresh and easy. Enjoy!

Pilar trabaja en su despacho

Pilar es muy Grande

Como se lo pasa Pilar de bien en su silla!!

Lo ultimo de Pilar / The latest on Pilar

Aqui podeis ver a pilar dandose la vuelta y saltando en su nuevo Jugete…

La Paulee de New York

Just a quick post today to talk about this unbelievable wine event that’s happening here in NYC in March 2009. Any wine aficionado should hear about this. and if you are a Burgundy or Pinot kind of guy (or gal) you definitely know about La Paulee de Mersault, where it all began…

Just take a look at La Paulee de New York website for all the information.

Enjoy!

It’s a new day

Finally, Obama is now the president. Little Pilar was wearing her Obama onesie and new that something good was happening during inauguration day. It’s like dawn after the long winter night. we just wanted to say that we are very happy that the post-Bush era has finally come. We celebrated that night cooking up some spinach ravioli with putanesca sauce. A killer combo if you add a nice Burgundy like we did.

Yes we did!

Thanksgiving menu

Hi,

We spent thanksgiving holidays here in Florida – what a nice place to be during this time, the weather is perfect, we can do bike rides, walks on the beach, go fishing, and cook.

We had a stunning menu for our thanksgiving dinner; and some nice wines to go along with it. specially that Sauterne Chateaux Suduiraut 1990 – holy smokes, it made me forget all the stress from the dinner, because let’s face it, dinner is stressful almost always; the gravy, the mashed potatos, the “where is my camera??” the crazy toast that nobody gets…etc

We also had a Beaune 1er cru Champy “aux cras” that was yummy and a Rioja from Palacios Remondo 2003 called “Propiedad H. Remondo” I thought it was unbelievable. New school style but with a solid earthy base that gave it a perfect balance. I drank about half the bottle I think.

we also drank a California 2006 Pinot Noir, “Coho” from Stanly Ranch – not bad at all, but it made clear once again the difference between Burgundy Pinots and other Pinots from anywhere else. It’s like a football match in Europe or an MLS soccer match in The US; the intention is always good, but the result is short from the original.

talk soon.

 

A photo of the family

Here we are!

Back on track

well, it’s been a while. More than two years, quite a stretch. Well, since we last wrote here we’ve moved to the States, bought a house, changed jobs and had a kid. quite a year this 2008. but we don’t want to abandon this blog. It has such a good name, and it’s worth keeping it.

Tonight we went to have dinner in Manhattan with our baby. what an adventure. Pilar was asleep and was wearing earplugs, so it was really easy. We went to a “spanish” restaurant, La Flor de Sol in Tribeca, and this is when I beging my critique.

you see, I’m from Madrid, so I really don’t need to go to spanish places in NYC. There is too much to choose from to go to a spanish place, and in general spanish restaurants outside Madrid are plain horrible. They are just fake. So why did we go to to La Flor del Sol? Because I did a search for “Romantic baby-friendly restaurants” and it was one of three. So we didn’t have much choice.

The place is nice, with exposed brick and candles, but the food is no good. The gambas al ajillo were not hot enough, the patatas con chorizo were not cooked enough, the manchego was dull, and the croquetas were not home made. The beer was good though. It was pretty average bar food in Madrid, served in a fancy restaurant in NYC. No good. and the live “spanish music” was a cuban quartet with too much bongo action. It seems that the “tapa” concept sells here and people loved it, but if you look for a good spanish restaurant in NYC, La Flor de Sol is not it.

more to come.