Category Menus & Recipes

Celebrate Cinco de Mayo in Style: Little Fish Tacos with Mango Avocado Salsa

Cinco de Mayo RecipeHappy Cinco de Mayo! Looking to celebrate with a few friends or even just the family this evening? Spice up taco night with these light Little Fish Tacos. The twist: we’re ditching traditional tortillas for thin slices of refreshing jicama! Try it. We dare you. Perfectly paired with light fish and crisp jicama is the bright and fresh Mango and Avocado Salsa. Minced Jalpeno is sure to wake up your Monday, but you can always scale back if you can’t stand the heat (like me!).

You can find this recipe in-action at our spring corporate team building events and private cooking parties!

Little Fish “Tacos” in Jicama Tortillas with Tropical Avocado Salsa
Fish Taco in Jicama "Tortilla"
This recipe can be found in our Appetizer Recipe Library!

Ingredients
Fish:
3/4 cup cilantro leaves
1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
3/4 teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted and ground
1 small red chili, seeded
Zest of 2 limes
1/3 cup olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 1/2 pounds white fish like tilapia, sole or bass fillets

Slicing Jicama

Jicama “Tortillas”:
2 softball size jicama
Mandolin (set on 2.0 setting)

Salsa (yields 2 1/2 cups):
1 ripe mango, peeled, seeded, diced
1 tomato, seeded, diced
2 green onions, finely sliced
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 jalapeño chili, minced
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1 avocado, peeled, seeded, diced
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Lime wedges and cilantro for garnish

Methods/Steps
Preheat oven to 375° F.

Prepare Fish: Put cilantro, paprika, cumin, chili, lime zest, olive oil and salt in a blender and process to a paste. Toss fish with the paste and let marinate for 20 minutes. Place fish onto a parchment lined sheet pan and bake for 8-10 minutes or until opaque. Transfer to a cutting board and cut into 32 strips. (It may break up and that is ok!)

Prepare Jicama Shells: Slice one end off of the jicama to create a flat surface. Peel the skin off (don’t worry about peeling the top of the bulb where you will hold it). Shave the bulb into rounds about one centimeter thick, about the thickness of a dime. The first few shavings can be experimental. The jicama will still yield plenty of rounds. Stop shaving about 2 inches before the jicama gets close to any fingers. OPTION: If the jicama is large enough, you may be able to stack the shaved rounds of jicama on top of one another and cut them into circles using a 3” ring cutter.

Make Salsa: Cut the mango and tomato into 1/4 inch dice. Place fruit into a bowl. Add the sliced green onions, minced chili, cilantro and lime juice and mix to combine. Carefully dice the avocado and gently mix into the salsa. Don’t mash avocado by over mixing the salsa!

Assemble: Place a strip of fish onto a jicama “tortilla”. Top with a heaping teaspoon of the salsa. Place little tacos onto a platter and prop them up by nesting them closely together. Garnish with lime wedges and cilantro.

Serves/Makes
Makes 32 3″ Mini Tacos

This recipe was created by Parties That Cook!

Say Hello to Your New Favorite Spring Recipe: Seared Flank Steak

Are you ready for the juiciest flank steak you’ve ever had? I know those are big words, but I firmly believe you’ll love this recipe as much as we did. Created by Chef David Herman (catch him at your next hands-on cooking party, if you’re lucky!), this recipe made it’s first appearance at our Spring Recipe Testing. It was gone far too soon and left our team craving more. If you’re having doubts about the validity of these statements, take a look at this beauty:
Seared Flank Steak

You can’t tell me the tender slices of meat, the rich red wine jus, and tangy giardiniera don’t have your mouth watering. Fine. Try it for yourself, and be grateful that we’re sharing. I’m sure after the first bite you won’t be so willing.

The Aftermath

Seared Flank Steak with Red Wine Jus and Spring Vegetable Giardiniera
Similar recipes can be found in our Main Dish Library!

Ingredients
Giardiniera (makes about 2 1/2 cups):
1 cup water
1 cup white vinegar
2 Tablespoons kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 bunch fresh oregano sprigs
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
2 fresh jalapeno peppers, sliced
1/2 small red onion, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
1 medium carrot, diced
1/2 cup fresh cauliflower florets, coarsely chopped
3 asparagus, cut into ¼ inch pieces
1/2 Lemon (for juicing)
3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Steak:
4 pounds flank steak (You can substitute eggplant steaks for vegetarians)
1/2 Tablespoon kosher salt
1/2 Tablespoon dried oregano (crushed in your palm)
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika
2 Tablespoons canola oil

Red Wine Jus:
1 cup red wine (preferably Italian)
6 sprigs fresh thyme
1/2 cup demi-glace (You can sub a vegetable stock for a vegetarian sauce)
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce (You can leave this out for a vegetarian sauce)
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Methods/Steps
Prepare Pickling Liquid: In a sauce pan, mix together the water, vinegar, salt, sugar, garlic, oregano sprigs, red pepper flakes, and black pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

Prepare Vegetables: Chop the peppers, onion, celery, carrot, cauliflower and asparagus. Place the vegetables into a bowl and cover with the hot pickling liquid. Stir and set aside for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Strain Vegetables: When ready to serve, strain the vegetables from the pickling liquid, remove oregano sprigs and return to the bowl. Season giardiniera with lemon juice and olive oil. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed.

Trim Steak: Trim the silver skin and excess fat from the flank steak. Do not discard any of the trimmings. It will be used to create the jus.

Prepare Dry Rub: Combine all spices in a small bowl. Sprinkle evenly over trimmed steaks.

Sear Steak: Heat a large sauté pan over high heat. Add the canola oil and sear the steak on both sides until golden brown in color. Transfer the browned steaks to a parchment lined sheet pan. (For rare meat, cook steak to 125ºF, for medium- rare to 135-140ºF.) Save the sauté pan and all of the juices (fond) stuck to the bottom of the pan to create jus.

Prepare Jus: In the same sauté pan used to sear steak, on medium heat, add the steak trimmings and sear until browned but not burned (for a vegetarian version, use a new pan, skip the beef trimming and start with reducing the wine). Deglaze the pan with red wine and scrape the bottom of the pan well. Add thyme sprigs and reduce liquid by half. Add the demi-glace and Worcestershire sauce, cook for 4-5 minutes, remove the thyme sprigs and with a slotted spoon remove any remaining beef trimmings. Reduce heat to low and add the butter, salt and pepper. Taste and re- season with more salt and pepper as needed.

Plate: Slice the flank steak into thin strips against the grain. Divide the steak among the plates. Drizzle the jus onto the steak and top the giardiniera.

Serves/Makes
Serves 10

Recipe created by Parties That Cook’s Chef David Herman