When I told you that my spicy, pickled carrots were so good that you’d want to plan a meal around them, I was speaking from experience. From first tangy crunch, I knew that a taco night was imminent. Do I sound like I mean business or what?
If Santa Monica Seafood and I were boyfriend and girlfriend, we would be broken up. Game over. We were honeymooning for a while there and high on aquatic life eating our way through the freshest seafood. Then somewhere along the way, they moved into their new fancy pants storefront and got lazy and dumb. Beauty does not replace quality or knowledge people. Let me explain. Last Thursday, I walk in and before I can peruse the whole counter I get asked if I need help by a guy that we’ll call Mr. SMS. I say, “I’m making fish tacos tonight. I’m thinking of a firm, white fish.” Mr. SMS asks, “When’s the last time you made fish tacos?” I think, “Why does that matter?” but I say, ” Never. Is your tilapia fresh?” He replies, “No it’s been frozen but I think the white roughy would be good.” He’s pointing at the Basa, which is out of the question, since it’s actually a type of catfish and B thinks catfish tastes like dirt. This guy totally just made up a type of fish and I found this article to prove it. They are trying to pass off catfish as roughy. Jeez. Try to dupe me. Just give me a cubic zirconia already and call it a day. Long story short, or really I should say, short story long, I went with the black cod and was happy with my choice until I found rows of pin bones running down the fillets. Now tell me why I pay a premium on fish from Mr. SMS and why I should stop watching Youtube videos about objectophillia.
Getting back to the eats now. After tedious tweezing of the pin bones and much cursing under my breath, I battered my strips of cod in a batter of Dos Equis Amber beer and flour. To punch it up I added a spoonful of chile powder, salt and pepper. A quick bath in hot Safflower oil and they were all set to be nestled in warm corn tortillas with a red cabbage slaw and lots of salsa. Also quick squeeze of lime is essential.
Having a refreshing salad of jicama, radishes and oranges cuts nicely through the heat and any richness from the battered fish.
Cravings be gone.
10 Comments
Laurel
07 Apr 2009 07:04 am
[this is good] Yum!
eatdrinknbmerry
07 Apr 2009 12:04 pm
julie, what do you have against basa? haha. this is the fish that BFTIEnsenada uses and I also use it for this Vietnamese Dill & Turmeric fish noodle dish I like to make. Basa is perfect for either b/c it’s nice and flaky. It is not fishy at all and contrary to American catfish, this Southeast Asian catfish is not ‘sandy’ or ‘muddy’ at all. trust me! are you going to share your fish batter recipe? i want to try it out.
julie
07 Apr 2009 03:04 pm
Poor Basa’s reputation that I just dragged through the mud! For the record, I love it and grew up eating it. It gets 2 thumbs up. Brock is just totally wierded out with eating catfish of any type. I think it’s a bottom feeder thing, though I’m sure if he ate it and I told him it has halibut he would love it. So moral of the story is to lie, right?
Recipe coming soon.
Tubbydammer
07 Apr 2009 04:04 pm
Cod in fish tacos sounds as delicious as the picture looks. I love both the flavour and texture of cod and I bet the pickled carrots were great with it. Mmmm
eatdrinknbmerry
07 Apr 2009 04:04 pm
hahaha. all good. would love to try out your recipe!
cyndia
07 Apr 2009 10:04 pm
I’m not a big fan of fish tacos (i’ve only tried them once) but that salad looks absolutely delicious!
Cheapo Groovo
09 Apr 2009 09:04 am
[this is good] I’ll be over for supper!
Yeehaw Murghi
09 Apr 2009 03:04 pm
[this is good] That salad is the very epitome of the expression “A feast for the eyes.” I’m not familiar with jicama, but it seems that the combination of radish and orange should be really interesting. I’ve gotta try that. That’s really great looking stuff.
Now, the fish tacos — love ’em. And I think doing them with a batter is inspired. Not to blow my own horn, but I tried doing some Thai fish cakes that way, in crêpes, and that was very good.
And cod should be a natural choice — it has always been the standard for fish & chips.
julie
14 Apr 2009 04:04 pm
Jicama is also known as the poor man’s water chestnut. Juicy and crunchy, kind of like an apple without the sweetness. They carry them at most Latin markets. Now I can’t wait to try fried fish in a crepe. YUM!
eatdrinknbmerry
21 Apr 2009 12:04 pm
haha poor man’s jicama. what do i use if i can’t afford jicama? where is the recipe!
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