Preamble:

Our village is near the castle of the gorgeous Princess Ballerina.  This explains the lack of photographic evidence.

The Princess and I had some impromptu tacos this evening (Tonight’s the Night).  Not my idea mind you.  My brain needs a kickstart after work.  Don’t talk to me until I’ve had my third cup of water.

Mahi we had thawed the night before (Ah, the Night Before).

Rub in Your Ramekin:

• cayenne
• black pepper
• white pepper
• ginger
• other pepper ground
• nutmeg
• brown sugar
• salt
• paprika
• thyme

Interlude with a Burn:

I built a fire in the chimenea and cleaned off the grill, hoping to build a better world.  I was careful with the grill brush so as to avoid emergency surgery.

You ever see those pump things with olive oil?

Yeah, we have one.  Pump pump.  Squirt squirt.

Rub on the rub (or in my case pat and smooth into place).

The interesting bit was the method of cooking.  So the chimenea might have a chimney opening say eight inches across.  My grill is maybe 24 inches across.  I counterweighted the grill and hung enough off the one edge to afford me the room where I might place two medium sized pieces of Mahi, hanging over open air.  Then I placed an inverted stainless steel bowl half over the throat and covering the resting fish.

The heat (the flames!) arched over the fish and cooked the top first.  I was able to look down upon the progress of the browning.

(Thank you, random Web photographer.)

I was concerned the fish might come out dry.  That was concerned wasted.  As moist as you could possibly covet.

This was one among the taco components.  An avocado salad and a bit of iceberg salad and a smattering of pepper jack.  Impromptu, remember?  We worked with what we had.

In our near perfect fairyland one half eat whole wheat tortillas while the other half eat the tasty kind.

A Final Note about Smoke:

I have been disparaged by lesser organisms in the past for my smoking habits.  I have learned that cigars and nurseries don’t mix.  I apologize.

However, in my cornucopia I have a host of aromatics at my disposal.

I put together a nice hot bed of coals.  Then in went the eucalyptus (wood) and then the spearmint (uprooted from my garden).  Fire and smoke, fellahs (“plowmen dig my earth”).  Hallelujah.

Anyway.  Good.  Very happy eaters.  There was even just a hint of mint when I put the first piece of fish to my mouth.  Probably on my hands but it’s suggestive.

EoT