thriller tacos

It was a majorly shitty week so it seemed like a good time to deep-fry the crap out of something. I'd never deep fried anything before—so messy, so tricky, so unhealthy. But it's been on my mind for some time now and I had a piece of cod in the fridge which wasn't quite enough to feed all of us so I did a bit of research and came up with fish tacos. The final recipe combined an epicurious recipe and a recipe from a book on Mexican street food that I picked up somewhere. 

The frying part was pretty straight forward—flour/season the fish and add to very hot oil for a short time. It emerged looking so delicious that I was immediately fired up to throw more things into the bubbling caldron and turn them into gold. Vegetables? Soccer cleats? But I hadn't planned ahead and only had a few flour tortillas on hand so I cut them in triangles and threw them in. The "chips" tasted a bit like wontons but had that perfect crunch that you can really only get from a deep fry. 

The tacos were delicious and I highly recommend you give them a try. Despite the deep fry aspect, they are very healthy and well-balanced and even kid-friendly (sans hot sauce.) Even if frying is not an option, I would still make these with broiled or grilled fish. Just remember, everything is better fried, and in the movies.

  • 3/4 cup flour
  • 1 tbsp salt
  • 3 tbsp chile powder
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • 1 pound cod (or any white firm fish)
  • 1 lime
  • 1/2 head cabbage, sliced and chopped
  • 4 tbsp chopped cilantro
  • 3 tbsp mayo
  • 1 tsp worcestershire sauce
  • 1/4 c plain yogurt
  • 1/4 cup green salsa
  • 1/2 red onion sliced very thinly
  • warm tortillas
  • salt, pepper, hot sauce to taste
  1. Mix flour and next three ingredients in a bowl. Cut fish into 2-inch pieces and coat with flour mixture. Shake off extra.
  2. Heat enough canola (or vegetable or peanut) oil in a pot to reach three inches and attach a candy/fry thermometer. 
  3. Meanwhile, combine cabbage, mayo, yogurt, 1/2 lime's juice, 2 tbsp cilantro, red onion. Add salt and pepper to taste. 
  4. When temperature reaches 375F fry fish for about 2 minutes until light brown. Drain on paper towels then add to bowl, along with worcestershire, rest of lime's juice, salsa and cilantro. Mix, slightly breaking up fish pieces. 
  5. Place fix mixture on tortilla and top with slaw. Add hot sauce. 

fish for dummies

in

I have a problem with fish: I don't like to cook it. I don't like having to be super delicate with the spatula for fear of ruining the filet. I don't like grilling it and watching it fall through the grates. I don't really like salmon and there's only so much swordfish a girl can eat.

After some research and practice, I discovered two great fish recipes that make it much easier and much tastier. The upshot: cover with seasoned texture and bake.

Jacques Pepin' slow roasted salmon (above) is from his book Fast Food My Way which is brilliant, but dated. (I found it lost in the back of my mom's cookbook collection but refer to it all the time.) He puts a coating made of bread crumbs, herbs and ground hazelnuts on top of the fish then bakes it low and slow. He serves it with a sundried tomato mayo but I just mixed a little tomato soup into mayo, added some S&P, and it was perfect. I also didn't have nuts so I just mixed the bread crumbs with some olive oil and salt. 

The other recipe comes from The Barefoot Contessa but the concept is the key. Cover (any white fish) seasoned fillets in a mixture of mustard, sour cream (creme fraiche if you want to be fancy) and capers. (See left) Then bake. The fish comes out really moist with a slightly spicy/creamy flavor. 

crack sauce and other spicy stuff

in

In February we went on a week-long family vacation with the Davis/Chases. We stayed in Puerto Adventuras- a gated community about an hour south of Cancun on the Riviera Maya. In a beautiful house! With a chef!

We didn't intend to have a culinary-themed trip but it sort of turned out that way, mostly because we met Martine, the house chef. Every day he cooked us breakfast (huervos rancheros, eggs and cheese on tortillas, a chicken casserole), and on a few lucky nights, he made dinner (like baked fish fillet: Marinate fillets for five minutes with lime, salt and pepper, olive oil and garlic. Bake for 10 min.)

He was incredibly skilled and inventive, especially with his hot sauces of which he claimed to have created 100. Here are the secret recipes for my favorites:

Spicy Sauce #52*
Wrap 1 and 1/4 red onion quartered, 5 peeled garlic cloves, 2-3 habeneros* in tin foil and put on high burner on stove for 5 minutes each side. Then place veggies in blender w.3/4 c olive oil, 2 tbsp white vinegar, 1 tsp salt and ground pepper. Blend until smooth.

(* It turns out after trying this at home that habeneros in the US are WAY more spicy then the habaneros in Mexico. Martine used 7 which in the US would blow your mouth off so I decreased and feel free to go even lower for a milder sauce. )

Spicy Red Sauce #75
Grill 4 tomatoes cut up, 4 peeled garlic cloves, one onion quartered and a few chilies until soft. Blend with olive oil, chicken broth, salt and pepper. (serve w. fish

Garlic Butter Sauce (for fish*)
Heat minced garlic, butter, olive oil, lime juice, salt/pepper and cook on stovetop

Chile Oil
Guajillo peppers chopped and olive oil. Cook on stovetop.

** PHOTOS BY BEVERLY CHASE

fish dish

I made this fish tonight and it was delicious and easy...

Marinate one pound of fish fillets  (any kind of white fish) in 1/4 cup lime juice and salt/pepper for 10 minutes.

In skillet, cook one minced onion, 2 minced garlic cloves, a can tomatoes, 1 cup chicken broth, 1/2 can black beans, half bunch cilantro chopped roughly,1 tsp dried oregano, 1 tblsp chile powder. Cook until reduced (20 min) then add fish w marinade and cook until done. Add salt/pepper. Serve with avocado on top or sour cream/yogurt. Could also serve over pasta.

a smokin brunch

in

Friday morning Mack and I hit the soccer field at Bushwick Inlet Park. After kicking the ball around and yelling "GOAL" about 500 times, I had the idea to visit the Acme fish market's "Fish Friday" where all the smoked goodies are available at lower prices to the public.

I’m always trying to turn sports outings into food outings and Mack’s too young to complain. So far. Plus he was fascinated by the bubbles on the factory floor, which were hiding all the fish guts and goo under them. We waited in line with a lot of polish people who knew exactly what they wanted and since we’d been before, I could sort of sound authoritative when it was my turn to shout “Pastrami smoked salmon, Whitefish salad, Whole trout and Honey baked!”

The only person, maybe in the world, who can eat all this smoked fish is my brother-in-law, Avi. So we invited Avi and family to brunch.