Sunday, March 16, 2008

Baja Fish Tacos


These were so good! We had a Central Market coupon for 10 bucks of free seafood and decided not to decide what to get until we'd browsed though the fish department and saw something that caught our fancy. I'll have to admit that I'd had a weird ongoing dream about fish tacos that lasted most of my previous night's sleep! Every time I roused, I'd be in the middle of dreaming of making this fish taco. Hm....might have colored the decision on what to get the next day, no? And so...Ono wahoo it was. I'd never cooked ono before, but it looked loverly. Turns out it was the perfect fishy for what I'd dreamed of doing, nice firm white fish, that has a fairly mild flavor. After harassing the fishmonger for a while..."are you sure this fish isn't being fished out of existence?"..."I'm not contributing to the ultimate demise of the species by purchasing this from you, am I??"...who knows if he knew what he was talking about when he assured me that it was ok to buy, but moments later we were walking out of the store with thoughts only of making last night's taco-fishy-dreams a reality.

Central market also sells a fantastic remoulade sauce in it's fish department, so I used that in the taco. Feel free to make your own though, since I have no recipe for that as of yet.
We also purchased a spice mix called Sassy Seasoned Pepper, but just using your own concoction of peppery goodness will be fine too. So, without further ado, here's the recipe.


Baja Fish Tacos:

Ono wahoo, or other like-fleshed white fish, cut into ~3/4 inch thick steaks
Salt
Salt-free pepper mix
a couple Tbs flour (I used brown rice flour)
one egg, beaten with a little water
cornmeal
canola oil and 1 Tbs butter
remoulade
red cabbage, shredded
carrots, shredded
cilantro
tortillas (we used Central Market's whole wheat tortillas)

I shred the cabbage and carrot using the shredding blade on my food processor, then set it aside. Mix the slaw with the remoulade right before serving in the taco.

Salt and pepper both sides of fish.
Place the flour in a plastic produce bag and toss the fish in it to coat, a few pieces at a time.
Place the fish in the egg wash, shaking off extra.
Dredge fish in cornmeal.

Heat oil and butter in a non-stick pan (I used about 1/8" oil in the pan)
Fry fish about 3 min on the first side and less on the second. Try to get a nice crust on the outside without overcooking the fish.

If you have a gas stove, warm each tortilla over a low-medium flame. Mix your remoulade into the slaw, then build your tacos. Top with cilantro and more sauce if desired.

Black beans made a perfect side to go with the tacos.

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