Week 6 - Cheater Fish Tacos

So this week was our first big challenge week.  The NBA playoffs started today, and the Lakers were the marque game at 3:30 EST.  That meant that we needed to get our cooking done while also trying not to miss the start of the "journey to 3-peat".  (In hindsight, we clearly could have spent as much time as we wanted in the kitchen since the Lakers stunk up the place today...)

The challenge was to come up with a dinner worthy of the Sunday Supper title, without having to spend any more time in the kitchen than necessary.  The ideal meal would be assembled during half time and be ready to eat by the 4th quarter buzzer.  So we decided to go semi-homemade (no relation to Sandra Lee) and to make Cheater Fish Tacos.

I came up with this recipe totally on my own, but everyone that's tried it has raved.  The ideal is crispy fish, creamy slaw and spicy hot sauce all coming together in a fresh tortilla. Only without any of the effort that should go along with that.  It's crazy easy.

First we had to make the slaw.  Wes chopped up about a half dozen radishes matchstick-style.  Those went into the bowl first with a heavy pinch of salt (mixed well of course).  Then we took half a head of regular cabbage and shredded it up (I cut, Wes separated) and that went into the bowl as well.  A good handful of minced cilantro and enough sour cream to make it creamy went in next.  Finally we squeezed in the juice of one small line.  Everything got mixed well and then into the fridge to come together.

Then the cheating starts.  From the freezer we grabbed a box of our favorite fish tenders (you could do fish sticks but the batter-to-fish ratio isn't as good).  They went onto a baking sheet and into the oven following the directions right off the box.

And we went back into the living room to enjoy the game.  Right in time for the second half to start.

At the end of the third quarter, we went back into the kitchen to finish our prep.  First we put a can of black beans on the stove top.  Wes got to open his first can!  He's ready to be a hobo now.

Then we followed Rick Bayless's direction on heating store-bought corn tortillas.  I'm going into detail here because this is important.  You have to moisten a tea towel and wrap up a dozen tortillas in the damp towel.  Then put the towel-wrapper tortillas into a Ziplock plastic bag.  Do not seal the bag, but rather fold it over.  Microwave the tortillas on medium for 4 minutes and then let them sit for 3-4 minutes before taking them out.  From there, straight into the tortilla warmer (you've got a tortilla warmer, right?)  By some magic, this transforms store-bought tortillas into the same yummy perfection of fresh made tortillas.  Magic.

Right as the game was falling apart--err ending, dinner was ready.  One last important ingredient -- srircha!  Not for Wes, but for me.  Wes kept asking how old he had to be to try the rooster sauce.  I was game, but Mom was all dirty looks so we postponed to another time.

All the tacos came together.  Wes polished off 3 himself!  And everyone was happy and that special kind of full that comes from eating just one taco too many.  The finally tallies of firsts for Wes: (1) first time eating a radish (2) first time opening a can by himself and (3) first time using the oven.  Not a bad day
and another successful Sunday dinner.  Now if we could have just fixed the Lakers...


Next week:  Easter Brunch!