recipes

Southwest salad

Southwest Salad with the Mexi-Flexy Dressing

So this recipe has little to do with fish, it’s just that it uses this awesome-sauce as the fantastical star ingredient. We throw in chicken when we have it leftover.  You could also use leftover steak, fish or no meat at all. I keep handy some frozen corn and frozen black beans to throw in for the bean protein, an extra southwest-y punch and…. okay, I like the corn color. I pre-cook a bag of dry beans in my pressure cooker and keep it frozen for occasions like this. You could also use canned beans, rinsed and drained and kept frozen the same way. Or be bean-less… whatev’s.

I’m sorry. I just can’t bring myself to measure and track ingredients info for a salad. Too. Much.

Southwest Salad with Spicy-Tangy-Mexi-Flexy-Dressing/Sauce

Spinach, romaine, butter lettuce, or (if you really must) iceberg

leftover chicken or steak, sliced bite-size

bell pepper, diced

avocado, diced

tomatoes, diced

corn, handful from the freezer

black beans, handful from the freezer

purple onion, diced

cheddar cheese, grated

crunched up tortilla chips

a splash of spicy-tangy-mexi-flexy-dressing/sauce

If you’re gobbling this up ASAP, run the frozen corn and beans under some tap water briefly to take the freeze off quickly. The key to a good salad, in my humble opinion (besides freshness… durrr), is that you chop veggies finely and tear the green leaves up nicely, too. You want as much of each of the veggies as you can get into every bite.

Now, eat up, amigos (said in my best southern gringo voice)!

Southwest salad

Spicy-Tangy-Mexi-Flexy-Dressing/Sauce

We love this dressing… it’s sweet and spicy with a little tang. I’ve been making it for a few years now and I’ve finally taking the initiative to write the recipe down just for you! Whoo hooo! There’s no telling how many different ingredients I’ve added or omitted over the years. Don’t have one thing? Don’t fret. Add more of something else or just roll with what you have.

This makes a over a cup and a half so we always have plenty for a couple of salads, use it for fish taco sauce, if we’re planning ahead I add some tequila to it make it a marinate for fish tacos. It’s good as a dipping sauce when you add a little Greek yogurt or sour cream. This stuff is just so flexible and tasty! Keep it in a jar in the fridge and see how many ways you can use it.

Tangy-spicy-Mexi-Flexy Dressing The team of ingredients used to make some kick-ass dressing.

Southwest Salad Dressing

1/4 cup lime juice

1/4 cup honey

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 tablespoon garlic, minced

1 Tablespoon hot sauce (we love Louisiana)

1 teaspoon dice japelepenos

* 2 teaspoons chipotle seasoning

* 1/2 cup (or so) verde salsa (or your favorite salsa will do)

* 1/4 cup seasoned rice vinegar

Mix in all the ingredients in a small bowl (at least a 2 cup measuring cup works for me). If you have an emulsifier, run it on low until everything is pureed and mixed well. Store in a jar and serve over salads, use as a marinade and add as a taco sauce.

Awesome-sauce... pre-emulsifier. Awesome-sauce… pre-emulsifier.

I’ll post more on other ways to use this yummy goodness later!

* Some optional…these take the dressing a little further in flavor and body, but aren’t required to achieve kick-ass-ness.

What to do with your catch

Lots of people look at Ross with a crazy-face when he tells them we LOVE to eat striper. Striper has a rep for tasting pretty bad… and it totally can if it’s not properly cleaned, filleted and treated before cooking. Luckily, you don’t have to know how to clean your catch since Ross has that covered for you. But there are some simple things to know so the fish is bomb-tastic when you take it home to chow down.

Keep it Cool

First and foremost, don’t forget to bring your cooler… with ice, of course. The fish needs to stay cold  to maintain freshness after you leave the dock.

Fishy Freezing

If you divvy the fish out to freezer bags for later eating, first rinse the steaks and then load the bags about half way with meat, be careful to leave enough room for water.  Whereas other, tougher meats could handle the frostiness, with fish, ALL of the fillets need to be covered in tap water when the bag is sealed. If you don’t, the delicate meat cells will be burned by frostiness and it just won’t be edible {insert sad face}. Of course, it’s always a good idea to date the baggies, too. You don’t want to get this catch confused with the catch you get on your next Herlocker fish outing. 😉

Thawing

I 100% guarantee the big ole’ ice block of fish will leak from your bag when thawing… no matter how expensive or fancy your freezer bags are. Don’t kid yourself and put it in a durn bowl. That’s all I have to say about that.

Pre-Cook Prep-o-ration

Once you’ve thawed the fish and rinsed it, you now need to soak it in salt water. Pretty please DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP, else you’ll think we’re liars about how good striper is. Even if you plan to put it in a marinade or stew or whatever, it’s VITAL that you soak the steaks in salt water for at least 30 minutes. You can just add salt to water and let it soak, but I’m always worried about how well the salt distributes and soaks in the fish, so I heat up a portion of the water for the salt to dissolve in. I’m also particular about maintaining a cold environment for the meat. Once thawed, it seems like it reaches room temp pretty fast and I’m not a big fan of that unless it’s on it’s way to heat. That’s why I heat the water to make sure the salt is dissolved and then add very cold water- throwing in ice cubes even – so that the heat of the water doesn’t take over and start cooking the fish.  Adding the ice cubes to the top assists to submerge the buoyant fish, too. The salt-soak helps pull out some of the metallic, “blood” taste, if you will, that might be part of the reason striper has a bad rap. IDK, we’ve eaten lots of fish in our house and we do the salt-soak for all of kinds.

Know how to treat your catch to avoid fishy taste

Know how to treat your catch to avoid any fishy-business.

Holly’s Not-so-Fishy Salt-Soak

  • 1 Tablespoon + kosher, sea, table, maybe even flavored… whatever you got will work as long as SALT is the primary ingredient
  • 1/4 – 1/2 cup of hot water
  • 4-8 cups 9f cold water
  • rinsed fish

Add salt to hot water and stir to help salt dissolve. If it’s not dissolving, try heating it up in the microwave in 20 second intervals.  To a large bowl, add salt water part of your cold water. Add fish. Cover with cold water. Add ice cubes as needed. Store in fridge. Soak for at least 30 minutes before eating. I’ve forgotten it and let fish soak for about 8 hours and it was still just fine.