Tuesday, September 20

Fish Tacos!!!

Everytime I go to Mexico, I always fashion myself tiny fish tacos at the buffets (we always go all inclusive resorts b/c we are lazy travellers).  Last night, I was flipping through Gwyneth Paltrow's Cookbook:   My Father's Daughter: Delicious, Easy Recipes Celebrating Family & Togetherness, I came across her recipe for Fish Tacos and thought I should give it a try.  Here's my rendition of the dish:



Fish Tacos
Ingredients:
oil for frying: peanut is probably best, but canola will also work - I know because that's what I used
1-2 lbs of a firm, white fleshed fish cut into little strips - in my freezer I happened to have sole, but I'm thinking cod would be amazing
1 cup flour
1 cup beer
salt, pepper and a dash of cayenne pepper (more if you like it spicy - you could also add tabasco or Frank's Red Hot Sauce)

Method:
In a deep pot or frying pan, heat oil to 350degrees or pretty hot - little bubbles.  To make the batter, combine the flour, beer and seasoning.  Dip your fish pieces into the batter to coat both sides - it's really sticky so use your hands - no being a princess for this recipe! 

Put just enough pieces of fish into the hot oil so that they have space around them - you don't want to crowd the pan - won't cook fast if you do.  Watch your back because this thing sends oil sparks flying! 

When your fish pieces are nice and golden brown, transfer to a baking dish lined with paper towels.  Sprinkle with sea salt.  As I did my batches of fish, I left the baking dish in a 200degree oven to keep things warm.



To serve:
Before you get your fish fry on, get the Mexi condiments ready:



Pico de gallo:
2 plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
1/2 small red onion, chopped finely
juice of one lime
2 tbsp chopped cilantro
sea salt

"Guacamole":
2 avocados, cubed
3 tbsp chopped cilantro
juice of one lime
sea salt

Lime crema:
1/2 cup sour cream**
1/2 cup mayonnaise
juice of 1/2 a lime
**Gwyneth constantly refers to something called Veganaise and it sounds disgusting to me - I saw it at Nutters and it was almost $10 for a super small jar, so it's an item that will never touch my fridge unless someone buys it for me!

Other things to put on the table:
Hot sauce
diced cabbage
cilantro

Okay, so now that you've got your condiments ready, your fish is fried, warm up some tortillas (again, dealers choice - I love the little corn ones - Hot Toddy does not enjoy so much so we just had the Dempsters Ancient Grains Tortillas.

4 comments:

  1. Looks great. I like to cook with beer. Great recipe.

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  2. These look delicious! I've always been intrigued by the idea of a fish taco but never thought to make them at home. Will definitely give it a go now.

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