Sasha's Kitchen: Cod with Slaw, Salsa Verde and Plaintains

Palo Santo is one of Park's Slope's delicious restaurants that my husband and I always enjoy going to.  I adapted this delicious and healthy fish restaurant from the New Brooklyn Cookbook, where the recipe hails from Palo Santo.  I wasn't able to get bluefish, so I adapted the recipe for cod.  It was still delicious and I really loved the salsa verde, plantains and slaw with the fish.  This take a bit of time to make, but not as long as you would think.  The end result is a beautiful, colorful and healthy display - a perfect meal for cheering up on a gloomy day!

Cod with Slaw, Salsa Verde and Plantains
Slaw
1/2 head small red cabbage, cored and shredded
1 scotch bonnet pepper, seeded and minced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 T red wine vinegar
2 T extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Salsa Verde
10 oz green tomatillos, husked and rinsed
1/3 cup minced chives
1 cup minced cilantro (original recipe called for two but I used less)
juice of one lime
1 T extra virgin olive oil
salt to taste

Plantains
3 very ripe plantains (I used two)
1 T melted butter

Fish
two 8 oz cod fillets (original recipe called for 6 8oz bluefish fillets)
1/4 cup canola oil
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 425.  To make the slaw, combine the cabbage, pepper, garlic and vinegar and olive oil in a large mixing bowl.  Season with salt and pepper and set aside to marinate.

To make the salsa, use a paring knife to make an X on the bottom of each tomatillo.  Blanch in boiling water for a few seconds until the skin starts to split and then plunge into an ice bath.  Peel, discard skins and seeds and chop the tomatillo.  Combine with the other ingredients above for the salsa verde and set aside.

Roast the plantains on a rimmed baking sheet at 425 for about 20 minutes until they begin to puff and burst.  Then cut them and coat with the melted butter.  Bake until golden brown, another 5-10 minutes.

To prepare the fish, season with salt and pepper.  Prepare an ovenproof saute pan and add the canola oil  and heat.  Cook 2-3 minutes, and then place fish in oven to finish cooking about five minutes until it is opaque in the center.

Sasha's Kitchen: Cod with Slaw, Salsa Verde and Plaintains

Sasha's Kitchen: Spicy Peach Salsa

Recently I took a preserving class at The Brooklyn Kitchen where we made this delicious peach salsa.  The recipe is in Sheri Brooks Vinton's new book Put 'em Up, which is a great guide for home preserving.  I made the spicy peach salsa from the book over the weekend at home, resulting in two large pint size jars of salsa. Yum! What could be better that a delicious peach salsa? I guess my love for peaches is showing here a bit. At any rate, I managed to do the boiling water method of preserving at home for one of the two jars, so it will be good until I want to use it. The other jar, I didn't seal, so we've been enjoying it all week. This salsa is great on fish or chicken, or just with some tortilla chips as a dip.

Sheri Brooks Vinton's Spicy Peach Salsa
3 pounds peaches, blanched and skin removed
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1 T cumin
1 T salt
1 pound tomatoes, cored, seeded and diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 jalapeno pepper, diced
1 red onion, diced
1/4 cup minced cilantro

Prepare and ice bath in a large bowl. Bring a pot of water to boil and blanch two peaches in the hot water at a time (for me, three pounds was six large peaches). Blanch the fruit for thirty seconds in the boiling water before placing in the ice bath.  Remove the skin from the peaches. After blanching, it should just slip off.

Combien the vinegar, sugar, cumin and salt in a large dutch oven or other nonreactive pan.  Put the peaches and dice them, adding them to the pot as you go so they do not brown. Add the tomatoes, bell pepper, jalapeno and onion, as you dice them.  Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for about 15 minute until thickened. Add the cilantro and remove the salsa from the heat,  You can then can it using the boiling water preservation method, or you can refrigerate it for a week or two and enjoy it right away.

Sasha's Kitchen: Spicy Peach Salsa

Sasha's Kitchen: Tilapia Fish Tacos with Peach-Mango Salsa

Peaches are one of my favorite foods of the summer. I incorporate them into just about everything - grilled peaches with barbecued meat, salads, pies, cobblers, you name it. They are also a key component of my fruity salsas in the summer months. Recently I made some delicious tilapia tacos with a savory peach salsa that was delicious and healthy - full of vitamin C.

Sasha's Peach-Mango Salsa
1 mango diced
2 large peaches, diced
1/3 cup red onion, diced
2 T lime juice
1/2 diced jalapeno pepper

Sasha's Tilapia Fish Tacos (serves two)
2 filets of tilapia, skinned
1/2 cup mirin or sake
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup pineapple juice
1 T sesame oil
2 T fresh ginger
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Marinate the tilapia for about 12 hours (a whole day is usually good). Then grill or bake the fish. After the fish is cooked to your liking, break it up into small pieces with a fork. This should be very easy as it will just fall apart. Serve in corn tortillas with salsa and a bit of fat free sour cream and lowfat cheddar cheese.

Sasha's Kitchen: Tilapia Fish Tacos with Peach-Mango Salsa