A different kind of taco...

Tonight was a big night here for several reasons. First, my sweet husband stopped after work and bought me the new Giada cookbook "Everyday Pasta". I have glanced at it and looks really good, so I look forward to spending more time with it this weekend. Second, Jess and Hugo stopped by and brought us a big bag of veggies from Whole Foods. Scott is running the Boston Marathon on Monday, so since they are leaving town we got their leftover veggies. Hugo and Cash had a wonderful time playing together. The picture below is after they had worn themselves out playing. Lastly, we tried our first recipe out of the April Cooking Light.

I made the Thai Beef Tacos with Lime Cilantro Slaw tonight. You prepare a marinade (that is really more like a rub) for the flank steak and let it sit for at least 20 minutes. While it marinated I made the slaw which came together pretty quickly except for the fact that the grocery store was out of match stick carrots, so I had to slice them myself. Once the meat marinated for a bit I grilled it and finished up the slaw. We served them in flour tortillas with lime wedges on the side.

Both the marinade and the sauce called for a new to us ingredient, fish sauce. I have seen it called for in other Asian recipes, but had not cooked with it before. While it doesn't exactly smell wonderful I think it did add good flavor to the dish. If you have not cooked many Asian dishes before don't get scared away by the ingredient list. Many call for the same ingredients, so if you plan to try other Asian recipes you will wind up using them again.

As far as tonight's dish, we really liked the flavor of the tacos and enjoyed the texture and freshness that the slaw brought to the dish. Another big plus was that these were quick and easy to prepare and did not dirty many dishes. Russ rates the tacos a 9. Tomorrow night we will be trying another new recipe from the April CL. It is very different in flavor and ingredients from tonight's dish, so stay tuned....