Cheese Corner: Havarti

Havarti is a buttery, semi-soft cheese that works well as a snack with crackers, melts nicely for grilled cheese or quesadillas, and is mild enough so that no one could be offended by its taste or smell. One can purchase it plain or, if it is too mild for one's tastes, flavored with herbs and spices such as dill and caraway. Havarti is relatively inexpensive and makes a good substitute for Monterey Jack in sandwiches. My only gripe about Havarti is that it is often difficult to cut due to its softness (it tends to cling to the knife or cheese slicer), so that it is best to cut it with a sharp knife immediately after removing from the refrigerator, and then to let it come to room temperature.

Chili Lime Popcorn

For a spicy, healthy snack, make a large bowl of popcorn through airpopping or in a pot on the stove. Or, if you don't have an air-popper or lack the patience to make popcorn over the stove, heat up a bag of plain or natural flavored popcorn (butter flavor will not do for this recipe.) Cut up a lemon or lime into 4 pieces and while tossing the popcorn, squeeze 2-3 pieces into the popcorn (depending on how much you like sour flavors). Season with salt and chili powder while tossing, to taste.

Maui-Style Fish Tacos

Since I have been getting some mail from readers about fish tacos, I would like to share my recipe for Maui-Style Fish Tacos.
First, some background on these tacos. It has been several weeks since I was in Hawaii. While on Maui, fish tacos became an after-snorkeling staple that I enjoyed along with a cool cup of shave ice. These tacos were different from the ones I had eaten previously in Baja California. They consisted of grilled mahi-mahi over cilantro rice, topped with a garlic mayonnaise sauce, salsa, shredded cabbage, and served in a corn tortilla. Here's the version you can make at home:

Ingredients
Package of Corn Tortillas
Head of Cabbage, finely sliced
1/4-1/2 lb mahi-mahi, defrosted or fresh, cut into 3/4 inch squares
Olive oil for sauteeing
Mayo
Ketchup
2 cloves garlic
Jar of Salsa Verde (Green Salsa)
Bunch of Cilantro, chopped
White Rice
Garlic Salt
Lemons/Limes
Salt and Pepper

Cook a small amount of the white rice. Once the rice is cooked, add the chopped cilantro and garlic salt to taste and fluff. Set aside.
In a food processer or blender, add 2 tbps of mayo, 1/2 tbp ketchup, 3 cloves garlic, a squirt of lemon or lime juice, and a couple of shakes of salt. Process until the sauce is pink and there is no evidence of individual garlic cloves. Taste, and add more salt if appropriate.
Heat a pan with a tablespoon of olive oil in it. Add your mahi-mahi and season with salt and pepper. Saute until flaky.
Heat corn tortillas.
To assemble a taco, take a corn tortilla and apply 1 teaspoon garlic mayo sauce from top to bottom at the widest point. Spread a heaping tablespoon of cilantro rice along the strip of garlic mayo. Next, place enough mahi-mahi on the rice so that the rice is covered. Add a teaspoon of salsa verde to the mahi-mahi. Finally, top with as much cabbage as can fit in the taco and fold. Do this with the other corn tortillas until you are satisfied with the number of tacos you have made. Enjoy, and think of Maui.