Mahi Mahi with Potato Pancake and Avocado Mango Salsa

I've added a few new features to Musings of a Housewife that I hope will be helpful. Over the weekend I created a Whole Foods Resources page that is a great place to start if you are interested in learning more about the whole foods lifestyle. I also compiled my design tutorials into one convenient location. Both are linked in my nav bar. And there is now a Print Friendly button at the bottom of each post, should you feel like printing recipes or information for future reference. Before printing, you will have the option to delete any photos or content you don't need.

I’ve probably mentioned 2 or 20 times in the last week that I’m one of the bloggers participating in the 3-month Tastemaker Potato Challenge sponsored by the United States Potato Board. Well, tonight my first video is finally ready to debut!

In case you’re wondering what the Tastemaker Challenge is all about, 9 participating bloggers will create 3 recipes using potatoes and a mystery ingredient. We will post our videos on YouTube, and the Tastemaker who accumulates the highest cumulative YouTube ranking over the 3 challenges will be the winner.  After the 3rd round, all 9 of us will gather at Blissdom 2010 for a final Potato Tastemaker 2K10 round LIVE where the winning Tastemaker will be crowned.

October’s challenge, “Potatoes Celebrate National Seafood Month,” is officially underway, and on Friday I received my mystery delivery from McCormick & Schmick’s containing Mahi Mahi to use with potatoes in an innovative recipe.  A friend gave me the idea to make fish tacos with an avocado mango salsa, using a potato pancake instead of a tortilla wrap.  As it turns out, my potato pancakes were too thick to wrap around the fish, so I ended up layering the fish on top of the potato pancake and topping it with the salsa.  The results were beautiful and tasty.  Take a look!

Isn’t that PRETTY!?  How can you vote for me? I thought you’d never ask!  You can view the video and rank it on YouTube. Five stars will do nicely, thanks!  And if you’re feeling particularly benevolent, sent an email to a bunch of your friends and ask them to rank it too.

Not sure how to rank a video on YouTube?  First, you have to have a YouTube account.  But I’m worth it, right?  Then you should see five stars under the video.  Just click on the amount of stars you want to give the video.  I took a screen shot to show you where.  Behold my mad Photoshopping skilz.  I promise, I cook better than I Photoshop.

Funny story. This afternoon, my husband was producing the video, and my 6-year-old daughter, who watches more than her fair share of cooking shows on the Food Network with me, and who observed our entire video-making process, asked quizzically, “Mom, if it’s not on TV, how is anyone going to see it?”

“Well,” I explained. “It’s not going to be on TV. It’s going to be on the computer. You know how you watch Hannah Montana videos on YouTube? I’m going to be on You Tube.”

Her eyes grew big as saucers, as she contemplated the enormity of the situation. “YOU are going to be on YOU TUBE!?” She exclaimed. Then she proceeded to tell her brother and sister and anyone else who would listen that HER MOMMY WAS GOING TO BE ON YOU TUBE. I’ll enjoy the star treatment while it lasts.   It’s not often that Mommy gets such high acclaim.

As I told my husband, our poor deceived children, they really think I’m something. They don’t realize that everyone’s on YouTube.

So anyway, here’s the recipe, if you’d like to try it.  I combined a few recipes that I found on AllRecipes.com, and I altered the salsa a bit to suit my tastes.

Ingredients

Potato Pancakes
4 large potatoes
1 yellow onion
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp salt
2-4 Tbsp flour
ground black pepper
olive oil
butter

Pan Fried Mahi Mahi Fillets
1 pound Mahi Mahi fillets
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Avocado Mango Salsa
1 mango, peeled and diced
1 red pepper, seeded and diced
3/4 cup chopped red onion
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp white wine vinegar
1 avocado, diced
1 tsp salt
juice of half a lime
1 Tbsp chopped cilantro
2 scallions, sliced

Directions

1. Potato Pancakes: Grate or shred potatoes and onion into a large bowl. Drain off extra liquid. Mix in egg, salt and pepper. Add enough flour to make mixture thick. Heat oil and butter in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Drop mounds of potato mixture into hot oil and flatten to make pancakes. Cook till browned and cooked through. Transfer to paper-towel lined pan to drain, and place in warming drawer or low temp oven to keep warm.

2. Mahi Mahi: Mix flour, salt and pepper on a plate. Add butter and oil to skillet over medium-high heat. Salt and pepper fish on both sides. Dredge fish in flour mixture, and brown it on both sides in butter/oil mixture. Place in 350-degree oven to cook through, about 10 minutes.

3. Salsa: While fish is baking, toss together all of the salsa ingredients except avocado. Gently fold in diced avocado. Season with salt to taste.

4. Layer on individual plates: potato pancake, fish fillet, avocado mango salsa. Garnish with slices of lime, cilantro, and green onions.

You could also grill the mahi mahi for a healthier option.

Let me know if you try it, and meanwhile, don’t forget to vote!!!!

I submitted this post to Tasty Tuesday and Real Food Wednesday.

Tagged as: tastemaker, tastemaker potato challenge