Rick Bayless' Roasted Garlic and Chile Dressing

I was raised in a family that showed how much they cared with food.  We lived to eat and boy did we.  Because of my family, I loved to cook from a young age.  I loved to cook long before I started teaching, but when I started teaching, I stopped cooking.  When I stopped teaching, I realized I had stopped doing something I loved, and slowly started getting my self-confidence back by experimenting in the kitchen.  I was unemployed and began finding myself in the cookbook section of the library and the kitchen as a way to stave off boredom and depression while on the job hunt.  I tried a Rick Bayless recipe and it felt like I had opened a world into a cuisine I had loved from afar, but had never even thought about making at home.  Enter Mexican Everyday, a cookbook that merges authentic Mexican tastes with modern sensibilities including quick meals, slow cooker recipes and all with a bent towards a healthier style of eating.

Every single recipe I have made from this cookbook has been a success, which has resulted in me buying his cookbook and causing many splattered pages within (always a good sign in my house.)   I've been eating salads for lunch recently, and have been experimenting with different dressings.  This dressing is my newest favorite, at least until tomorrow.  It will be fantastic as a dressing for a main dish steak salad, but will do just fine over just about anything or as a marinade. Just make sure whatever you are using will stand up to the kick of this dressing.  This dressing isn't a wimp, so don't you dare put this over something else wimpy! 

Empty jam jars are super useful for holding homemade salad dressing.

Roast the stemmed chile(s) and the unpeeled garlic cloves in a dry pan, turning frequently, until blotchy brown in spots - about 10 minutes.  Set aside until handle-able.

Once cool enough to touch, peel the garlic and roughly chop the chile pepper.  Combine the garlic, chile, oil, vinegar, salt and sugar in a blender jar or food processor.  I love my immersion (stick) blender for this application.

Process until smooth.  Taste and add more salt or sugar if needed. 


Ingredients:

4 garlic cloves, unpeeled
Fresh hot green chiles to taste (the recipe states 2 Serranos or 1 jalapeno, but I just used one Serrano)
3/4 cup vegetable oil (1/2 cup safflower oil, 1/4 cup olive oil is a suggested riff that I followed)
1/4 cup red wine vinegar (he recommends Sherry Vinegar, but I didn't have it and this was a suggested riff too)
Pinch sugar (not needed if using Sherry Vinegar)
Pinch salt

Mahi Mahi and Tomatoes with a Lemon, Garlic, and Oregano Sauce

Everyone needs a meal in their back pocket that looks fancy, and tastes like you cooked all day, without really needing you to do so.  Everyone needs a recipe that will impress without really trying.  Everyone needs this recipe!

It may not look like much, but we've eaten it twice in a week!  Simply put, it's fish covered in tomatoes, and baked with a lemon, garlic and oregano sauce.  But it is just so much more than that.  It's fresh and light and a meal that you can for cheap that you make out of foods that your market may just have year round. 

First, mince your garlic and then slice your tomatoes into 1/4 inch slices. 

Don't mind the bok choy in the back of this picture, you'll see it in another recipe soon!  Back to the fish.

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Pat the fish fillets completely dry with a paper towel and season them on both sides with the salt and a few "grindings" of pepper.  Juice enough fresh lemons to make a 1/2 cup of lemon juice - about 1 1/2 lemons.  Combine lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and 1/2 teaspoon of oregano in a small bowl.  Stir lemon juice mixture until the ingredients are well blended. Then add the fillets to a small casserole dish, pour the lemon juice mixture over the fish fillets and turn them over to ensure that the mixture has a chance to cover both sides evenly.

Place the tomato slices over them and sprinkle the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of oregano on top.
Bake in middle of oven for 10 to 12 minutes, or until fillets flake easily when pressed gently with a fork. Serve the fillets at once directly from the baking dish. 

This is best served with something that will soak up the delicious sauce.  My father is convinced that my body is about three fourths pasta, my choice is pretty obviously gonna be pasta, but you can go ahead and use rice or another grain if you feel so inclined.  We found Brussels Sprouts on sale and decided that they would be a great vegetable and steamed them.

Ingredients:
4 mild and firm fleshed fish fillets - we used Mahi Mahi
1 tsp. salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cups fresh lemon juice, strained
2 tbsp. olive oil
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp. dry oregano, crumbled
2 med. sized firm, ripe tomatoes, washed, cored & cut crosswise into 1/4-inch slices

Verdict - I wasn't kidding when I said we've had this twice in one week.  The first was on Valentine's Day, if that gives you an idea of just how much we enjoyed this meal!