Thursday, June 6, 2013

Fish Tacos and Rockin' Awesome Salsa

DINNER LAST NIGHT WAS SO GOOD.

I made battered fish tacos, and salsa from scratch (first time I've done that and it's so easy!).
This is going to be a pretty long post, so I'm just going to jump right in.

Batter the fish:
2 or 3 fillets of any white fish (3 fillets made enough for leftovers, with two people)
2 eggs
1/2 cup of flour
1 cup breadcrumbs (panko, homemade, any kind...they'll all work the same way)
Oil in the pan...about 1/2 to start, and adding it as you need it. I use olive oil, or coconut oil if I have it, because they're healthier than the other more common cooking oils.

I was raised making "chicken fingers" and so this method is second nature to me, but here's what you do!
-Set up an "assembly line" of three bowls from farthest away from the stove to the pan on the stove in this order: flour, eggs, breadcrumbs, pan. Turn the heat under the pan to medium, and put the oil in.
-Cut the fillets into strips about 1- 1 1/2 inches wide.
- Take the strips, one at a time, and dip them in the flour, then the egg, then the breadcrumbs. Make sure you coat them all over with each, or the breading won't adhere in the places you missed. If you want extra breading, repeat the step but only with the egg and breadcrumbs.
-Add each "fish finger" to the pan with now-heated oil, and let sit until you can see the underside has turned a deep brown color, then turn them over and do the same on the other side. Add oil as needed, because the breading will soak it up. You don't need to have a lot of oil, like for deep frying, just enough to fry the bottom sides of the fingers.
-When each piece is finished, remove it from the pan and place it on a plate.

Two notes about this:
1) You can make chicken fingers the exact same way. Voila, two recipes in one...
2) If you don't like frying your food in oil, you can bake them on an oiled cookie sheet in the oven at about 350 degrees for about 15 minutes on each side, flipping them and adding more oil after the first 15 so they don't stick.

As we proceed, also note that if you don't want the fish in your tacos to be breaded at all, just cook it another way before building the tacos!

Next is the SALSA!! These amounts make enough to serve four people.
3 roma tomatoes, sliced
4-5 average sized radishes, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
4-5 green onion stalks, chopped

If you have a food processor, you probably won't need to slice or mince any of the ingredients. All I have is a blender, so I followed the instructions above, then threw everything into the blender on the low "chop" setting, until it was smooth. Blenders work just find for salsa, as it turns out!
That's it, it's done. Pop the salsa in the fridge until ready to use.

Assemble the other ingredients for the tacos, now. You can use anything. I like:
Avocado, sliced
Cabbage, sliced
Grated cheese (cheddar, for me!)
Salsa
Sour Cream
Sliced fresh tomato
LIME JUICE. The lime makes it perfect. Squeeze a quarter of a lime over each taco once everything else is on there...SO GOOD!

And that's it! You can crisp up the tortillas or just eat them soft. I crisp them on the stove with a tiny bit of oil, and they come out great.








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