A Trio of Fish Taco Condiments

For my last meal at home, I opted for fish tacos. This is a meal that my family has only recently—in the last few years or so—started to make regularly. Although certain elements are always constants—the fish of course, good spicy salsa, and my mom’s cheese dip—I like to make different condiments to go alongside. Since we eat fish tacos most often in the summer, I also prefer to take advantage of fresh fruits and vegetables. The fresh toppings just taste better in the summer, offering cool contrasts to the spicier fish and salsa.

Usually the condiments are a reflection of whatever we happen to have in the refrigerator at the moment. Case in point: this pineapple and cucumber relish. The pineapple is sweet and juicy while the cucumber offers a crispness and crunch. A little hot sauce rounds out the flavors, and salt (ever the culinary workhorse) brings out the sweetness and juices in the pineapple and cucumber.

The guacamole is usually on the table but it’s taken me a while to get it just right since there are so many factors at play in guacamole. The texture should be creamy but not so smooth that it’s pureed (on the other hand, it shouldn’t be too chunky). I also like the contrasting texture that tomatoes provide: they lend a savory flavor that pairs well with avocado and their juiciness also smooths the guacamole out. In terms of seasoning, I usually go with salt, pepper, hot sauce, and dashes of cumin and cilantro (either dried or fresh). The cumin and cilantro are takeaways from my mom, who has instilled in me the proper way to make guacamole and perfect cheese dip, among other things.

The final condiment, a creamy carrot salad, is my homage to the coleslaw or cabbage that is often served with fish tacos on the West Coast. It’s utterly simple, equal parts creamy, sweet, and crunchy. I love the idea of a carrot salad, but not the heavy mayonnaise dressing that usually adorns it. My solution? A tart yogurt dressing with fresh citrus that pairs perfectly with grilled fish. 

In fact, my favorite part about these condiments is that they are as good complementing a fish taco as they are as dips for tortilla chips or vegetables, with chicken or shrimp, on sandwiches, and of course—like you even need to ask—on their own. Sometimes I’m more tempted by the fish taco accompaniments than the fish tacos themselves, but I’m not sure there’s such a thing as Fish Taco Condiment Night. Not yet anyway.

Pineapple and Cucumber Relish
 
This relish is wonderful with fish tacos, but it’s also great with other seafood like shrimp or scallops or with chicken. Alternatively, serve it as a dip with chips or crudité for a new take on fruit salsa.

Yield: about 2 cups

½ medium pineapple
¼ cup cucumber, diced into ½-inch pieces
Kosher salt
Hot sauce, to taste
1 tablespoon chopped assorted fresh herbs, such as basil, parsley, cilantro, and mint

Dice ¾ of the pineapple into ½-inch pieces and place in a medium bowl. Grate the remainder on the small holes of a box grater. The pineapple will break up and become very juicy and pulpy. Transfer pineapple pulp and all juice to medium bowl with diced pineapple and add cucumber. Season pineapple and cucumber liberally with salt. Add hot sauce to taste (I go with 4 or 5 dashes). Add chopped herbs.

Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve, at least 30 minutes and up to 4 or 5 hours. Serve chilled. Leftovers will keep, covered well and kept in the refrigerator, for up to 3 days.

Guacamole

Guacamole is most aesthetically pleasing when served right after it’s made, lest the avocado oxidize and turn a murky greenish brown. I’ve tried all the “secrets” designed to ward off this unwanted effect, from adding acid to the guacamole to storing it with an avocado pit, and nothing has ever worked. Luckily, leftovers stored in the refrigerator taste just as good, if not better, than freshly made guacamole, and only the surface of the guacamole oxidizes. Simply stir the guacamole a bit and it will be almost as green as new. 

Yield: about 2 cups

2 ripe Haas avocados
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
¼ medium tomato, diced into ½-inch pieces
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Hot sauce, to taste
1/8 teaspoon cumin
¼ teaspoon dried cilantro or 1 teaspoon chopped fresh cilantro

In a medium bowl, mash avocados with a fork until creamy but some chunks still remain. Add lemon juice and tomato and stir to combine. Season with salt, pepper, and hot sauce (I go with 4 to 5 dashes), to taste. Add cumin and cilantro and stir to combine. Serve immediately.

Leftovers will keep, covered well and kept in the refrigerator, for up to 4 days.

Creamy Carrot Salad
 
I use Greek yogurt in the dressing because we have it on hand more often than plain yogurt. However, you can use plain yogurt and omit the water. To shred the carrots, peel them first and then grate on the large holes of a box grater. 

Yield: about 2 cups

2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon water
½ teaspoon sugar
Kosher salt and fresh black pepper
2 cups shredded carrots





In a medium bowl, whisk together Greek yogurt, lemon juice, water, and sugar. Season well with salt and pepper. Add carrots and stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve, at least 30 minutes and up to 4 or 5 hours. Serve chilled. Leftovers will keep, covered well and kept in the refrigerator, for up to 4 days.

Fresh Plum Vinaigrette

The first time I walked into Whole Foods this summer and spotted an overflowing crate full of local Georgia peaches, rosy-colored with blushes of orange, and ripe and ready for eating, I was eager to get a bagful, go home, and just dig in. Living in Georgia my entire life, I’ve come to appreciate the splendor of a ripe summer peach, eaten plainly, my hands sticky from the juice.
             
The truth is, my favorite way to eat most stone fruits—from peaches to plums to cherries—is plain. I often find that they don’t need much embellishment to taste really fantastic. After all, the last thing I want to do is obscure the fresh summer flavor that I’ve waited nine long months to experience again.
             
Nevertheless, there are times when a few extra ingredients can really transform a star ingredient like peaches or plums. Take this salad dressing. I’ve talked before about my affinity for salads that have fruits in them and this time I took the concept one step further and decided to make a salad dressing with plums blended right into it.
             
It’s simple, really. Take a few ripe (almost too ripe) plums, puree them in a food processor or blender, add some Dijon mustard for tanginess, rich vinegar for sweetness (I used a black fig-infused vinegar that is similar to balsamic), and extra virgin olive oil to smooth out the flavors. What results is a complex vinaigrette that’s at once sweet, tangy, and rich. The plums add some body to the dressing, helping to keep it emulsified long after it’s blended. Paired with tender greens and freshly-cut stone fruits, this dressing truly epitomizes what summer is all about: fresh, crisp flavors and wholesome ingredients. I’m not sure that anything could ever rival my love for that idyllic peach, plum, or berry, but this comes pretty close.  And that says quite a lot.

Fresh Plum Vinaigrette

There’s not much oil in the dressing because the plums add a lot of body and sweetness that counters the acidity and tang of both the mustard and vinegar. Taste the dressing after you’ve blended it and adjust with more oil if you like a less acidic vinaigrette. If you don’t have a food processor, use a blender to make the dressing.

Yield: about 3/4 cup vinaigrette

2 extra-ripe, medium plums
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar (I used a black fig-infused one)
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Cut the plums in half and remove the pits.  Over the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade, squeeze each plum, cut side down, to separate the flesh from the skin. With ripe plums, the flesh should separate pretty easily. Keep squeezing until all the flesh and juice is in the  bowl of the food processor. Repeat with the rest of the plum halves.

Pulse the plum flesh and juice until fully blended. It should be a smooth puree. Add the mustard, olive oil, and vinegar. Process until  blended. Season to taste with salt and pepper (and, if necessary, more oil or vinegar).

Serve with tender salad greens, such as spinach, arugula, or a mesclun mix, along with other fresh stone fruits like peaches, plums, and cherries. I even added some fresh yellow peppers for a sweet crunch. The dressing will keep in the refrigerator (emulsified!), covered, for up to a week.

Creamy Buttermilk Caesar Salad Dressing

In terms of the most underrated and under-appreciated ingredients in the kitchen, buttermilk is pretty hard to beat. But its benefits reach far beyond baking. While buttermilk does play a pivotal role in everything from muffins to waffles to cornbread, I don't think that recipes for those foods really show off the buttermilk's tangy flavor or unbelievable creaminess.  That's why my favorite way to use buttermilk is in its raw form.

To be honest, I love the flavor of plain buttermilk. Coming from a non-milk drinker, that's saying a lot. It tastes like liquid sour cream and it's so rich that just a little bit goes a long way. But I understand that drinking buttermilk straight is kind of gross and disconcerting for most.

Recently, I've started using buttermilk is salad dressing. One of my favorite summertime salads is Deb from Smitten Kitchen's corn bread salad. It has a buttermilk lime dressing that's loaded with herbs and sweet and tangy flavor. It's a fun spin on my all-time favorite bread salad. Nevertheless, the dressing is a bit thin and the fresh lime and herbs that it contains don't make it year-round fare.

Enter Cook's Illustrated. I've described my love for Cook's Illustrated and my nearly limitless faith in their recipes. A few months ago, we acquired their Healthy Family Cookbook, which has been an incredible addition to our growing cookbook collection. It's sort of like the classic Best Recipe cookbook for lightweights. And by lightweight I mean that the cookbook is loaded with pictures but withholds the exhaustive recipe testing notes (which are actually my favorite part, but then again I also think Lagrange multipliers are fun) . This is the kind of cookbook that showcases easy, everyday recipes that just happen to be healthy.

I was intrigued by their section on salads. Despite the reputation that salad has for being a healthy food lover's dream, the truth is that some salads, with their oil- or fat-heavy dressings and myriad of toppings, aren't as wholesome as they're cracked up to be. It's actually pretty shocking to discover the nutritional information behind just a few tablespoons of salad dressing. However, the folks at America's Test Kitchen devised an ingenious way to retain the familiar flavor of Caesar salad dressing and the thick and creamy texture without the extra calories and fat. The secret ingredient? Low-fat buttermilk.

Here, buttermilk lends its tangy flavor and thickness to the salad dressing. Other pantry staples complete the dressing, making it a perfect dressing to make year-round. A bit of mayonnaise and Dijon mustard add body; the dressing's salty, savory notes come from a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce and some minced anchovies. Only two tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil (a fraction of the amount called for in our previous go-to recipe from Ina Garten) are needed to round out the dressing. What results is something that is surprisingly and unexpectedly delicious, endlessly creamy with a pleasing sourness from lemon juice and buttermilk. It's actually hard to believe that it's a healthy recipe.

No longer will you worry about what to do with the extra half-carton of buttermilk that you have languishing in the refrigerator unused. Make this salad dressing! In fact, I think we may have to start buying buttermilk regularly. I've already started to think about different variations for this recipe: green goddess and ranch dressings come to mind, but even simple additions like herbs or a different vinegar could really transform the dressing.

I realize that I just spent seven paragraphs talking about salad dressing of all things, but I simply cannot withhold my love for this new recipe. I suppose there are worse things I could be obsessed with. Cheesecake, for example. Oh, wait....

Creamy Buttermilk Caesar Salad Dressing 
Adapted from The America's Test Kitchen's Healthy Family Cookbook

This dressing is the perfect complement to more substantial salad greens like romaine or red-leaf lettuce and baby spinach. To make a more substantial salad, add Ina Garten's Caesar additions: oven-roasted cherry tomatoes, crispy pancetta, and perhaps some garlic croutons.

Yield: about 3/4 cup dressing

1/4 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons light mayonnaisse
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
3 anchovy fillets, rinsed and minced
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 cup (about 1 ounce) grated parmesan cheese, optional

In a measuring cup or jar, add all ingredients except olive oil and cheese. Whisk vigorously to incorporate (if using a measuring cup) or shake the jar to incorporate the ingredients. If using a whisk, slowly drizzle in the olive oil while whisking to emuslify the dressing. If using a jar, add the olive oil and shake well to emulsify. Add the parmesan, if using, and serve atop salad greens.

The dressing will keep, stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container, for up to a week.

Summer Salad with Stone Fruits and Tomato Vinaigrette

One of my favorite things about summer (besides being able to wake up at 10 every morning) is stone fruits. And while this isn't a post about the wonderful sweet things I've done with the 49 cents-a-pound peaches we got this weekend (five whole pounds of them... and I thought we had a problem with zucchini), it is a post about my favorite way to enjoy them. (Actually, my favorite way to enjoy them is sliced plain, but that would make for a rather uneventful post.)

My mom and I both love salad and fruit. The combination of green leaves and sweet/tart fruit is a winning one. In the fall I like to add apples or sauteed pears, in the winter oranges are a great addition, and spring means strawberries. But come summer, the options are so much greater (and so much tastier). This particular rendition utilizes chopped peaches, plums, and nectarines. The peaches add sweetness, the plums contribute a slight tartness, and the nectarines manage to balance between the two extremes. Of course, I also love the variety that each brings to the salad.

But no salad would be complete or memorable without a truly delicious dressing. While I am the first to admit that I'm not too crazy about salad dressing (I'd just as soon eat a salad plain or with a drizzle of vinegar than make a dressing), this is my absolute favorite. My mom just sort of made it up one day, and I immediately began singing its (and her) praises. It is refreshingly tart, blending white wine vinegar with the natural acidity of tomatoes, and has a variation in texture because of the actual tomatoes and bounty of herbs it contains. But I think my favorite thing about this vinaigrette is the rosy hue that the tomato lends to it.

Truthfully, I could make a full meal out of a salad like this, and I often do, but it's perfect as a side to a lighter dinner or lunch, not to mention a fantastic antidote to the grueling summer heat.

Summer Salad with Stone Fruits and Tomato Vinaigrette

This vinaigrette recipe makes about a cup and a half of dressing. I prefer salad lightly dressed, so there is always leftover vinaigrette. It keeps very well in the refrigerator, covered, for about a week.

Yield: 4 servings

2 heads of Romaine lettuce, washed, dried, and torn into bite-size pieces
1 plum, roughly chopped
1 nectarine, roughly chopped
1 peach, roughly chopped
1 beefsteak tomato (or about 2 Roma tomatoes)
6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
6 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons mayonnaise
1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/4 cup mixed leafy herbs (such as basil, parsley, marjoram, chives, and mint), minced
Pinch of garlic powder (or 1 clove of minced garlic)
Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste

Combine lettuce and stone fruits in a large bowl. Halve the tomato. Roughly chop one half and add to the bowl with the lettuce. Finely chop the other tomato and transfer to a jar (or other container), with juice. To jar, add olive oil, vinegar, mayonnaise, mustard, herbs, garlic powder, and salt and pepper. Seal jar and shake to incorporate the ingredients. Just before serving, pour dressing over lettuce and toss to combine.

Bread Salad

I know "Bread Salad" is about as unglamorous a title for a dish as you can think of, but in our house, it always elicits excitement. But for those of you who want a fancier name, let me tell you about a dish that the Italians call "panzanella."

Thanks to my family's extreme fondness for vegetables year-round, as well as to the ingenious concept of wholesale food clubs, our house is rarely without the bread salad quartet of tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, and bread.

This recipe, like so many of our favorites, is inspired by Ina Garten. As we've made the salad countless times in the past year or so (why we never decided to make it before, I have no idea), we have of course made a few modifications from Ina's original recipe.

Usually the process goes something like this:

"You know we have all the stuff to make bread salad, right?" I'll tell my mom nonchalantly. She'll nod, and we'll agree to make it for tomorrow's dinner. The better for me to mentally prepare myself for the deliciousness.

At around 7:30, I'll come downstairs and wash the vegetables. Two large tomatoes (we usually have beefsteak, but five or six Roma tomatoes would be fine, as well.), one whole English cucumber, and two bell peppers are about right. Then I'll dice up five or six slices of bread (my favorite is whole wheat).

Usually right about now my mom, inevitably knitting at the kitchen table, will chime in with "Can I do anything to help?" Now, while I strangely enjoy chopping vegetables and those kinds of menial prepwork tasks, I really can't stand to wash and dry greens and make salad dressing. So I let my mom do my leftover tasks, and she is always happy to do so (plus I am convinced that she makes amazing salad dressing, which is just as important a component in this dish as the bread and vegetables).

The whole meal comes together very quickly. I always toast the bread in the oven (rather than in a skillet on the stove), and I sprinkle it with salt and pepper to make sure it's seasoned well. While the bread toasts, the vegetables are sitting happily in a huge (and I mean huge - way too big for just my mom and me) salad bowl, soaking up all that delicious vinaigrette. Once the bread is toasted, it goes straight into the bowl, and the warm cubes of bread readily absorb the dressing, too.

And, finally, a shout-out to the behind-the-scenes star of this dish, the capers, which at first glance can seem insignificant. After all, how can such a tiny berry make that great a difference in this sea of vegetables and bread? But they add a welcome brininess to the salad and a little pop of acidity that wonderfully complements the sweetness of the tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers. I say it almost every time we make this salad, and I'll say it again: the capers make the bread salad.

And even though this dish is redolent of summer's bounty and bursting with bright colors, it is secretly dangerous. If you're not paying attention, you will quickly find yourself four bowls deep, wondering to yourself where all that bread salad went. I've found this out the hard way, because we used to place the bowl right on the table, where it would practically call out to you. The last time we made this, I made the wise decision to leave the bowl in the kitchen, away from view. Somehow, we ended up with leftovers, but, of course, those were quickly devoured, too.
Bread Salad

Adapted from Ina Garten

If you like, you can also add half of a diced red onion (or sweet onion) to this salad. The onion adds a nice crunch and pungency. I like to soak the red onion in some cold water for about 10 minutes, which can mitigate that "Whoa, raw onion!" heat. But if you're not into raw onion, the salad will be no less delicious without it.

Yield: 4 servings

2 large beefsteak tomatoes (or 5 to 6 Roma tomatoes)
1 large English cucumber
2 bell peppers (red, orange, or yellow but not green)
5 or 6 slices of hearty bread, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
7 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons champagne or white wine vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 1/2 teaspoons mayonnaise
1 garlic clove, minced (or 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder)
2 tablespoons choppped fresh herbs (preferably basil but a mixture of leafy green herbs like parsley, mint, or chives with the basil also works)
3 heaping tablespoons capers
Enough lettuce greans for four (about two heads of romaine or 4 cups of greens)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and line a baking sheet with foil.

Cut the tomatoes, cucumber, and bell peppers into about 1/2-inch pieces. Place in a large salad bowl.

Place the bread on the baking sheet and season with salt and pepper to taste. Toast the bread until golden brown and fragrant, about 10 minutes.

While the bread is toasting, make the dressing. Combine the olive oil, vinegar, mustard, mayonnaise, garlic and herbs in a jar or container. Seal the jar or container and shake vigorously to mix the dressing. Pour the dressing over the vegetables to coat (you may have extra; save some for salad later). Add the capers and toss the vegetables to distribute the dressing evenly throughout. Add the toasted bread to the salad and toss again to distribute the bread, making sure that the bread is coated with dressing.

To serve, place a handful of greens in a bowl and top with as much bread salad as you like.