tamale all about it!

I love me some tamales! But the only thing is that I don't have the time (or rather kind of lazy) to make tamales on my own. Even though it's not authentic, I find that pot pies that mimic tamales are something that I can definitely do.

Since I like the ease of making casseroles, this tamale pie was something they've been wanting to make. I've been experimenting with different ingredients inside the pie and so far this is the most of that been happy with. It's got a lot of feeling and as much vegetables I can fit in. Add some extra toppings and this makes a great meal!

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Chicken Tamale Pie

(makes one large pot)

Filling:

4lbs skinless boneless chicken, cubed

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp bottled minced black garlic

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp Jen's everything seasoning

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ancho chile powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp salt

2 bay leaves

1 large onion, diced

1 large poblano chile, diced

1 can black beans, drained & washed

1 can sweet corn, drained

1 medium zucchini, diced

1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro, divided

1 large can Las Palmas mild/medium enchilada sauce

1 tsp better than bouillon, chicken bouillon​

2 tbsp masa flour

Cornbread Topping:

Dry Ingredients

    2 cups  cornmeal

    1 cup all-purpose flour

    2 tsp baking powder

    1/2 tsp Himalayan pink salt

Wet Ingredients

    2 cups milk (room temperature)

    2 tsp organic apple cider vinegar

    5 tbsp salted butter (melted/liquid)

    1 small can chopped jalapenos, drained 

    1/4 cup canned corn

1/4 cup Mexican cheese blend

sour cream for serving

finely chopped red onion for serving

hot sauce for serving

Heat 6 quart dutch oven. Mix chicken, black garlic, and spices then add to hot pan to brown. Add onions and poblano and cook until onions are translucent. Add black, beans, corn, zucchini, and half of cilantro. Cook for 10 minutes then add enchilada sauce, bouillon, and masa flour. Cook mixture until thickened and reduced by 1/4. Remove from heat set aside.

Preheat oven to 350F degrees.

Combine together wet ingredients for cornbread in a small bowl until frothy.  In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients together.  Combine wet ingredients with dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Top filling with cornbread mixture then with Mexican cheese blend. Bake in oven until cornbread is cooked through and filling is bubbly, about 30-35 minutes.

Serve with sour cream, finely chopped onions, olives, and hot sauce.

blackened, not burned.

Holy. Crap. I think that this may be the BEST fish sandwich that I've ever made. Talk about crazy delicious, this was a spicy, tangy, savory explosion of flavor in my mouth and I am so sad that it's all gone. You should really make this . . . like, RIGHT. NOW.

I came across this fish sandwich when I was looking to try out the blackened seasoning I made. I recently went to Safe Harbor Seafood Market and Restaurant down in Jacksonville and had their famously fantastic blackened shrimp nachos. Wow, were those nachos super tasty! I was going to do a food hack of the nachos, but unfortunately I didn't have the right ingredients to remake it.

What I did have was some ciabatta bread and a few frozen flounder fillets. Sounds like blackened fish sandwiches to me. :)

When I was looking for the perfect sandwich recipe, I wanted mainly one thing: no mayo in the slaw. This recipe was perfect. I liked that it was colorful and the red cabbage slaw was vinaigrette based. Also, I was able to utilize two of the seasonings I had in my cupboard; the blackened seasoning I just made and adobo seasoning.

Speaking of adobo seasoning, I had made mine (a mixture of these two recipes) before trying the McCormick's version. I did NOT like McCormick's version at all. I think it was the taste . . . it seemed off and not at all what I was expecting it to be. Whenever I have Mexican adobo sauce, it's usually more red than yellow and the homemade mix came closer to what I was used to. I had to throw the bottle of McCormick's adobo seasoning away. :/

On a happier note, the seasoning mixes worked well in this particular recipe. I've switched out the seasoning that the fish originally had with equal parts blackened seasoning. For the chipotle mayo, I subbed out the canned chipotles with dried ground ones and the adobo sauce for the seasoning. I don't usually have canned chipotles in adobo sauce in the pantry and I've found that this makes an acceptable substitute. Everything else pretty much stayed the same.

I'm telling you . . . these are the best fish sandwich EVAR.

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Blackened Fish Sandwich with Red Cabbage Slaw and Chipotle Mayo
(barely adapted from Daydream Kitchen)

For the Slaw:
1 small garlic clove, finely chopped
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
1½ tbsp white balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 cup finely shredded red (or purple) cabbage
¼ cup thinly sliced, 1-inch strips of green bell pepper (“matchstick” sized)
¼ cup coarsely chopped cilantro
1 scallion, thinly sliced (white and green parts)

For the Chipotle Mayo:
2½ tbsp light mayonnaise
1/4 tsp dried chipotle pepper flakes
1/2 tsp adobo seasoning

For the Sandwich:
2¼ tsp blackened seasoning
1 tsp olive oil
2 5-oz skinless fish fillets, about ⅓-inch thick (cod, salmon, flounder, etc . . .)
2 crusty sandwich rolls, halved and lightly toasted

 
Make the slaw:
Combine the garlic, shallots, and vinegar in a small bowl. Whisk in the olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Combine the cabbage, bell pepper, cilantro, and scallion in a medium bowl. Add the dressing and toss well to combine. Taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper, as needed. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes to allow flavors to combine.

Make the mayo:
Combine the mayonnaise, chipotle pepper, and adobo sauce in a small bowl. Set aside. (Alternately, you can substitute sour cream or greek yogurt for a lighter dressing.)

Make the sandwich:
Rub the blackening seasoning all over the fish, coating both sides well and pressing to adhere. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and add the olive oil. When the oil is hot, but not smoking, season the fillets with salt and add to the pan.

Sear until beginning to blacken on the bottom, about 3 minutes. (Reduce the heat to medium if the spices begin to burn.) Turn and sear the second side until blackened and the fish is just cooked through, about 2 minutes longer, depending on thickness.

To serve, spread the chipotle-mayo sauce on all 4 cut sides of the rolls and lay a filet on each bottom half. Mound the red cabbage slaw on top of the fish and cover with the top halves. Serve right away.

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Blackened Seasoning
(from Mom-Makes . . .)

2 1/4 tsp sweet paprika
2 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp dried thyme
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 to 1 tsp cayenne pepper

 
Combine the paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, thyme, black pepper, cayenne pepper, basil, and oregano in a food processor or spice grinder and pulse until finely ground and evenly mixed. Alternately, sift ingredients into a bowl and whisk until well combined. Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place. Keeps up to 6 months.

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Adobo Seasoning
(adapted from Food. and Lemon Chiffon Cake)

1 tbsp lemon pepper seasoning
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp parsley flakes
1 tbsp achiote powder
1 1/4 tbsp kosher salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp sweet paprika
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp ancho chile powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder

 
Combine all ingredients in a food processor or spice grinder and pulse until finely ground and evenly mixed. Alternately, sift ingredients into a bowl and whisk until well combined. Store in an airtight container in a cool, dry place. Keeps up to 6 months.

fish with a face.

I remember the first time that I ever had a "faceless" fish. It was right after we got to America, back in the early '90's, and were were "fresh off the boat". My father wanted to treat us to a buffet and I had never seen so much food in my life! One thing that I found odd, though, was the fish they served. Sitting there, under the hot heat lamp of the buffet, were slivers of fish flesh floating in an oil-slick of "lemon butter" sauce.

Confused, all I could think to myself was "Where's the rest of the fish?".

Soon after, I learned that people on this side of the world didn't like to see the face of what they were eating. Scratch that, they didn't want to see discernible parts that told them what the animal was. No chicken feet, no pig's head, no fish heads.

Fast forward to the future. I remember the first time that my husband ever had fried fish at my parent's house. While he dutifully ate what was presented to him during dinner, it wasn't until when we got home that he remarked on the "faces" of the fish. He found it odd that we didn't simply fillet the fish then fried it separate from the bones. How different, he remarked.

How do I explain? Eating the entire fish was normal for me. If he wasn't there, I would've cracked the skull open, scooped up the stray bits of flesh and offal, and would of ate it with delicious relish over rice. I would've picked the fish clean until only it's bones were bare and no morsel were left. This was how I was raised . . . to eat everything, waste nothing. And the heads, oh, the heads were the best part. The essence of the fish were contained in those heads.

It was moments like these that reminded me of how truly different we were from each other: my husband, a white mid-western raised boy from a small town in North Dakota. Me, a Filipina with a mix of Philippine roots and big-city Southern California upbringing. Our worlds could not have been any more opposite.

But that's why we're together. He's the ying to my yang, the butter to my toast, the cherry on my sundae. I love the easy-going friendliness he brings to my busy hurried life. Who knew afternoon naps could be so refreshing? And to him, I bring fishes with a face.

My favorite fish would have to be the pompano. It's a relatively firm fish with a nice mild flavor. Wrapped in banana leaf and seasoned with lemon, ginger, garlic, and parsley, this fish turns divine! I served this with my father's daikon radish salad, a type of Filipino sawsawan. We typically have this sawsawn with fried fish, but I had a hankering for it today. It usually consists of grated daikon radish, chopped tomatoes and onion, fresh cilantro, a mix of white vinegar and fish sauce, then seasoned to perfection with salt and pepper.

And yes, I did pick this fish to its bare, bare bones.

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Baked Banana Leaf-Wrapped Whole Fish
(makes 2 servings)

1 whole pampano, scaled and cleaned
1 lemon, sliced
1/2-inch knob ginger, peeled and sliced
handful flat-leaf parsley
1 clove garlic, minced
salt and pepper
olive oil
1 large banana leaf, enough to wrap fish

 
Preheat oven to 375F degrees.

Score the fish diagonally, up to the bone, a few times on each side. Spread the minced garlic in the cavity of the fish. Stuff the cavity with parsley, lemon, and ginger. Drizzle fish generously with olive oil then season well with salt and pepper on each side. Rub oil and seasoning into the fish, making sure to get between the scored flesh.

Wrap the fish in the banana leaf and tie well with either leftover banana leaf or kitchen twine. Bake for 25 minutes of until flesh between the scored skin is opaque. Remove from oven then cut the banana leaf open to expose the fish. Increase oven heat to 450F degrees and continue cooking fish until skin is slightly bubbled and banana leaf has charred, about 2 to 5 minutes. To serve, peel skin from meat and then portion out fish.