Chenail Kitchen Chronicles: Girly dinner fit for a man

Fish Tacos with Mango Pineapple Salsa

As I’ve mentioned before, Brett travels a lot for work. A lot of work travel = a lot of eating out for him. I do not eat out that often. We definitely take the kids out every once in a while (mostly to keep them in the practice), and I will on a very rare occasional brave up and take them to Friendly’s alone. Friendly’s happens to be the only restaurant (unless you count Starbucks) I currently feel comfortable enough to take them to myself. This list may soon increase as I will be in Miami for one day with both kids sans Daddy. I’m guessing if I can handle the zoo, lunch, dinner, a hotel and flying up the East Coast by myself, I may just be able to add Applebee’s to my safe list.

I would guesstimate that Brett and I go out to dinner by ourselves (unless you count a quick lunch while he’s on his way to the airport) four times a year…MAX. Whether that’s good, bad or average, I have no idea – but it seems to be a happy medium for us. Honestly, I’m just as happy on the couch with sweatpants, a pizza, boxed wine and a movie. (Yes…I am one classy lady!)

So I digress… I think when you don’t eat out often, you definitely tend to splurge on foods (calorie-wise anyway). In Brett’s case, he seems to have the art of “eating healthy on the road” somewhat in check. On a recent date (that’s number 1 for 2011 in case anyone is counting), Brett and I went to City Steam Brewery in Hartford. We both love it there and happened to have a gift certificate from Christmas 2009 to use up (thank you Scott and Jen!). This is what was ordered for our table:

A round of beers

Buffalo chicken dip

A caprese burger

Fish tacos

Another round of beers

A slice of coconut ice cream pie

I was responsible for the buffalo chicken dip, ice cream pie (although we shared both of those), a set of beers and the burger. The one thing (besides beer) Brett picked out was fish tacos. Of course the waiter, not knowing I was the man in the relationship (food-wise anyway), brought me the fish tacos. The fish tacos were actually really good, but they’re not something that I would think to order at a restaurant. (My caprese burger? AMAZING). I decided to replicate them at home for the perfect quick and healthy dinner.

Making the recipe

I used flounder for this recipe, and I would not recommend doing that. I have no idea what you’re supposed to use for fish tacos, but flounder looked good that day at Hannaford’s, so I went with it. When I make these again, I’ll try something more firm like Halibut.

The results

Shockingly, my kids wouldn’t touch this. Bodie, however, couldn’t stop eating the mango out of the bowl as I was making the salsa. I’m pretty sure that this is the first time he’s had mango – so 4-year-old kid eats new food…not too shabby. Brett and I thought these were good, but again, I would use different fish next time. I would also use different tortillas…the whole grain ones I buy were too heavy. Maybe corn?

The recipe

¾ lb firm fish fillet

2 tbsp olive oil, divided

1 tbsp. Old bay

Salt and pepper

2 limes, juiced

4 soft tortillas

Place the fish, 1 tbsp olive oil, old bay, salt and pepper and lime juice in a large ziplock bag and marinate in the fridge for an hour. Once you are ready to cook, heat a large skillet over medium high heat with another tbsp olive oil. Cook the fish for a few minutes on each side until it flakes easily (as you can see, the flounder flaked a little too well).