Thursday, July 23, 2009

yummy fish tacos



So the other day I was randomly craving fish tacos, so Hunter and I made them for dinner. In my search for a good recipe, I came across this one from my Martha Stewart cookbook, and this one from Michael Chiarello/Food Network. I ended up combining bits of the two, with a few tweaks here and there, and the results were great. These fish tacos were so good, we had them two nights in a row.

For the actual fish, I used the beer and chipotle batter from Michael Chiarello's recipe:
Ingredients:
2 oz. canned chipotle peppers
2 eggs
2 cups beer
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons gray salt
freshly ground black pepper

Puree the chipotles and egg together in a blender. When well blended transfer to a bowl and whisk in the beer. In a separate mixing bowl combine the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture, whisking well to prevent clumps. Add freshly ground black pepper. Set aside.

And for the "slaw topping" to go on the tacos, I used the Martha recipe:
Ingredients:
1/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream
2 Tablespoons fresh lime juice
salt and pepper
1/4 small red cabbage, thinly shredded (about 2-1/2 cups) ---I used just pre-packaged slaw mix
4 scallions, thinly sliced (about 1/2 cup)
1 jalapeno chile, halved lengthwise, one half minced
chopped fresh cilantro

In a bowl, combine sour cream, chopped cilantro and lime juice, season with salt and pepper. Transfer half the mixture to another container; set aside for serving. Toss cabbage/slaw mix, scallions, and minced jalapeno with remaining sour cream mixtures. Season again with salt and pepper.

To make the tacos:
1 tomato, diced
slaw
fresh lime juice
sour cream topping
chopped cilantro
vegetable oil
1 lb. tilapia or other white fish
small tortillas

Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet/pan over medium heat until 350 degrees. Cut fish into small strips and place in batter. Coat well. When oil is ready, place battered fish in oil and cook 2 minutes on each side. With a slotted spoon, remove fish and place on a plate with paper towels. 

Wrap tortillas in aluminum foil and place in warm oven to heat through. 

Once the fish is done, fill warm tortillas with slaw, fish, cilantro, sour cream topping, and some diced tomatoes. (Or any topping of your choice). They are sooo good!



top photo from Martha Stewart; bottom photo from Food Network

2 comments:

Laura said...

Now that you're in Charlotte, you should definitely try Cabo Fish Taco, in NoDa. It's the best!

Betsy said...

I love Cabo Fish Taco! There's actually one in Blacksburg back at Virginia Tech, where Hunter and I had our first date, so I was happy to find one here in Charlotte too!