Hello Rootabaga subscribers!
Thank you for joining us for another fun round of our Rootabaga produce subscription. This week we have some old and some new veggies to share, like more of the season’s tender fresh spinach. We also have sweet mini peppers in your veggie bags, they’re great raw or cooked, but I’ll share my favourite cooking method below. We also have the produce to make this week’s feature recipe – Blackened Fish Tacos with Avocado Cilantro Sauce! These vibrant and fresh fish tacos are sure to delight anyone who tries them and they use cilantro in two different ways – fresh and in a creamy sauce. All in all, this week the small share has:
Cilantro – Stokdijk Greenhouse, conventionally-grown
Spinach – Noggins Corner Farm, spray-free
Sweet Mini Peppers – Stokdijk Greenhouse, conventionally-grown
Red Cabbage – Noggins Corner Farm, conventionally-grown
Ambrosia Apples – Noggins Corner Farm, conventionally-grown
Sweet Potatoes – Elmridge Farm, spray-free
The large share has everything above, as well as:
½ lb of spinach instead of ⅓ lb
⅔ lb of mini peppers instead of ⅓ lb
3lbs of ambrosia apples instead of 2lbs
3lbs of red cabbage instead of 2lbs
Carrots – Noggins Corner Farm, conventionally-grown, PEI
Turnip – Noggins Corner Farm, conventionally-grown
This week’s recipe is Blackened Fish Tacos with Avocado Cilantro Sauce. The tacos consist of 3 parts, crispy blackened haddock fillets, crunchy red cabbage slaw, and creamy avocado cilantro sauce. The fresh cabbage and cilantro slaw is perfect against the spiced haddock fillets and the avocado cilantro cream tops it all off! The original recipe can be found here (https://hostthetoast.com/blackened-fish-tacos-avocado-cilantro-sauce/). We made some small changes to accommodate locally available ingredients.
- 1 ½ lbs Afishionado Haddock Fillets
- 1 ½ teaspoons smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 12 corn tortillas
- Ingredients for slaw:
- ½ a small red cabbage, sliced thin
- 1 small onion, diced
- ½ cup of cilantro leaves
- 1 lime, juiced
- Ingredients for Avocado Cilantro Sauce:
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 ripe avocado, pitted and skinned
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro leaves
- 1 lime, juiced
- 1 jalapeno (optional), finely chopped and seeds removed
- Salt to taste
- In a small bowl mix together all the spices for the haddock fillets. Sprinkle the mixture on both sides of the fish and rub the spices in with your hands.
- Add all the slaw ingredients to a bowl and mix.
- Combine all the avocado cilantro cream ingredients in a food processor or blender and pulse until well-combined.
- Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot add the haddock fillets. If you can’t fit them all at once, cook them in batches. Fry on each side for 5-6 minutes or until the outside is blackened and the fish flakes apart easily.
- Remove the fish from heat. If desired, heat each tortilla in the same pan for about 30 seconds each.
- Assemble the tacos: line the taco shells up on each plate. Break the haddock up into 2-3 inch pieces. Layer fish on each taco topped with cabbage slaw and sauce. Serve and enjoy!
These tacos are flavourful, creamy, and delicious! The fresh citrus notes of cilantro pairs perfectly with crisp-tender haddock. And despite the 3 different elements this recipe comes together relatively easily for a quick yet impressive tasting meal.
This week we’re also sharing a little taste of sweet mini peppers! They’re a different variety than bell peppers and are extra juicy and sweet. They can be eaten raw or cooked, but my go to method is to roast them whole. You can leave the stem intact, just cut any with longer stems short. Toss the peppers in olive oil, salt, and pepper and roast them on a rimmed baking sheet at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes, or until soft. They are so delicious this way and they make for a beautiful colourful side dish. For a smaller quantity of peppers, you can roast them and blend them into hummus for roasted pepper hummus, or add them to your favourite bolognese or marinara sauce for an extra boost of flavour. I’ve also had really good stuffed mini peppers similar to this recipe: https://www.fifteenspatulas.com/stuffed-mini-peppers/
The spinach is so good this time of year, and so much better than imported spinach, that it goes well in everything. I can’t decide if I like it more fresh in a salad, added to scrambled eggs with cheese for breakfast, or steamed with lots of lemon squeezed on top. I’d love to hear what you do with this yummy versatile ingredient when you pick up your bags this week!
To try something new with the ambrosia apples this week I’m going to try this recipe for Apple Oatmeal Cookies: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/9636/apple-oatmeal-cookies-i/. Made with apple chunks, oats, walnuts, and lots of cinnamon they sound delicious! The recipe notes emphasize using a good quality apple to impart the best flavour into the cookie and ambrosia’s are nice and sweet.
Please let us know if you try the blackened fish tacos recipe with your Rootabaga subscription! We will be back next week with more local and seasonal produce to stock your fridges with.
Until next time,
Robin