Assuming that you like 1) fish and that 2) you're willing to eat it in a delicious broth, you're really going to like this dish and/or hearing about it. We were in awe!
I defrosted some cod earlier in the day and was going to make some Pescado a la veracruzana until Javier reminded me that we'd just had that several weeks ago, and he thought we should try something different. So, I got out an old cookbook and this CALDO MICHI recipe was the first one I came to that called for cod as its main ingredient.
The basic ingredients are: olive oil, cod, tomatoes, white onions, garlic, carrots, zucchini, chicken broth, diced jalapeños en escabeche (canned, pickled jalapeños) cilantro, and oregano. It look about 1/2 hour to prepare, and when we sat down to eat, we'd only placed a small bowl of quartered limes on the table in addition to our two bowls of soup and some warmed tortillas.
We were totally not prepared for this wonder! It was so good that we each ate two bowls of soup and then wondered why we hadn't made this years before. We made fun of ourselves for having so many Mexican cookbooks around the house, but not using them often enough. And, we've already had a discussion on who gets to eat the leftovers today.
I'm voting for ME since I got up early this morning and made huevos rancheros for Javier. And, of course, Javier's voting for himself as he asserts that he needs to eat a healthy fish meal after having huevos rancheros for breakfast this morning.
HEY! Stay tuned...pictures should be appearing later in the day, and don't forget to write in if you'd like recipes.
CALDO MICHI RECIPE ~
ReplyDelete1 LB. COD OR OTHER FIRM, WHITE FISH
1/8 CUP OLIVE OIL
1 MEDIUM TOMATO, DICED
1/2 WHITE ONION, SLICED IN VERY THIN RINGS
2 CLOVES GARLIC, PEELED ONLY
4 CUPS CHICKEN (OR VEGETABLE) BROTH
2 MEDIUM CARROTS, PEELED AN SLICED
1 ZUCCHINI, CUT INTO ROUNDS
2 PICKLED JALAPEÑOS, CHOPPED
1/4 TSP. OREGANO
4 SPRIGS OF FRESH CILANTRO
Rinse and dry the fish. Cut into large cubes, and season with salt and pepper.
Heat the oil in a soup kettle and fry the fish pieces for a minute, or just until it becomes translucent. Remove and set to one side.
In the same oil fry the onion and garlic together until the onions are limp. Add the tomatoes and continue cooking until it looks like a cooked sauce. Add the broth, carrots, zucchini, oregano and jalapeño peppers, and cook just until the carrots are tender, about 15-20 minutes. Add the fish pieces and lower the heat to a simmer, cooking all for 10 minutes. Add the cilantro sprigs right before serving. ¡Buen provecho!
I wanted to add a comment about my Caldo Michi. After lightly cooking the fish, I then added the onions, garlic and tomatoes. There were little bits of burnt fish, which seemed to add a lot to the flavor of the tomato and onion mixture before adding the broth and vegetables.
ReplyDelete