Salmon "Fish" Tacos

By now you have probably realized we eat a lot of salmon. In fact, we have been eating so much salmon I have a backlog of recipes and pictures that I am trying to roll out in between other recipes to disguise what actually might be a salmon rut. You may have also noticed the marked slowdown of posts, is it a declining interest in our second month of blogging? Perhaps. Not eating in as much due to kitchen remodeling? Likely. Lack of inspiration due to what feels like a shitty-weather-you-call-this-Spring rut? That too. Will we try to make month three more frequent? Yes.

I wasn't complaining about the frequency of salmon, although the AlphaChef will likely read this and take it that way. I actually love salmon. But as the UltimateBeta, I do feel an obligation to protect my chef from ruts, to stoke his creativity, which can cause hurt feelings, but I do believe the ends justify the means. I mean, if your Beta won't do it, who will? Which brings us to the focus of this post.

It was a Monday night, the first week of AlphaChef's new job, a week that started at home and ended in Tucson by Thursday. Trip anticipation equals an extra-effort to use up fresh produce and other leftovers in the refrigerator. AlphaChef went to Byerly's and brought home, yes, salmon. In a voice that AlphaChef most likely perceived as whiny and ungrateful (see the "Chicken Again?" post, it's not pretty, but it works) I asked, "we're having salmon AGAIN?" I quickly recovered and started thinking about how to make this different from the grilled piece of salmon, cured pork, vegetable rut we were in. (Again, not complaining, okay, well not too much). I landed on fish tacos. I spoke up and the Alpha creative juices were stoked. "Fish tacos?...with salmon? Okay, yeah, we have tortillas, cilantro..." He is so easy, I love my life.

So, pay attention and see if you can see the leftover ingredients from the other salmon posts. We started with a slaw made with the following ingredients:

• 1 c fennel bulb finely sliced
• 2 oz. soppresatta, also sliced finely (yes, we kept the theme)
• 1 medium shallot, finely sliced lengthwise

Place the above into a hot frying pan with a bit of peanut or vegetable oil, fry until crisp, remove from pan, add about 3-4 diced sundried tomatoes and add salt to taste. Set aside.

Using the hot pan and the method detailed in our first salmon post, remove the salmon skin and cut into bite-sized pieces. The following spices are toasted in a dry pan (can do this prior to making the slaw if you're into one-pot cooking) and ground and then rubbed into the salmon pieces:

• 1/8 tsp anise seed 
• 1/4-1/2 tsp cumin (depending on your preference)
• 1/4 tsp coriander seed

Rub the above into the salmon pieces, add salt and pepper and 1/4 tsp of cinnamon (very important), 1/2 tsp ground chipotle powder and 1/2 tsp oregano. Stir fry the spiced salmon, put into soft corn tortilla shells, garnish with cilantro and limes. Place a selection of favorite hot sauces on the table and eat. YUM! Rut busted!