Cuisine: Mexican

Beer Battered Fish Tacos

There’s a place about 5 miles from our home, Malibu Seafood, that serves the best fried fish tacos I’ve ever had. It’s a long line in the summer, so we don’t go then. As Yogi Berra said about one of the top restaurants in NY, “No one goes there any more. It’s way too crowded.” Ha! Well, we go in the off season. So in the summer, I’ll try my hand at making my own. They’re not as good as the ones at Malibu Seafood, but I love them.

Ingredients

1.50 lbs Fish – Cod is cheap and fantastic, and halibut is a nice (and more expensive) version.
Making the Batter
1 cup Flour
12 oz Beer – I usually have some Fat Tire or Firestone DBA on hand.
1 tsp Ground Black Pepper
1 tsp Salt
Coating Mix
1 cup Flour
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Ground Black Pepper
Cream Sauce
1 cup Sour Cream
3 tbsp Salsa
0.50 tsp Salt
0.50 tsp Ground Black Pepper
1 Lime, Zest and Juice
Hot Sauce (Cholula is our house favorite)
Toppings
½ Head of Cabbage, Chopped
1 White or Yellow Onion, Chopped
2 Roma Tomatoes, Chopped
2 Avocados
3 Oil for frying – I use
12 Corn Tortillas

Directions

Making the Cream Sauce and Preparing the Toppings

Mix together Sour Cream, Lime zest and juice, salsa, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper. Sauce should be lime tangy, and a little spicy. I add about 10 shakes of Cholula.

As an alternative, I have a good tartar sauce recipe that I have not yet put on the website.

Mix cabbage, onion, and tomato together. Bind with a little of the cream sauce if you like.

Slice the avocados and squeeze a little lime or lemon over them.

Move cabbage mix, sliced avocados, and cream sauce to the fridge.

Making the Beer Batter

Mix together flour, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp black pepper, and 8 ounces of beer. You figure out what to do with the rest of the beer!

Let sit for 15 minutes. Don’t let it get too thick! Add more beer or seltzer water if it does.

Cooking the Fish

On a plate or in a large bowl, mix together 1 cup flour, 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp ground pepper.

Cut fish into thin pieces, 3-4 inches long and 3/4 inch wide. Don’t go too wide here. You want to be able to make a nice taco without a giant piece of fish.

Heat oil in a 9″ cast iron skillet. You can go bigger, but it’s a lot more oil. You want at least 1″ of oil. Oil should heat to about 350 degrees. Thermapens are great for checking temperatures!

Dredge fish pieces in flour, dip in batter, and place in oil. I do about six pieces at a time. Cook for 5-6 minutes until deep golden brown.

Set fish on a wire rack over a cookie sheet lined with paper towels to drain.

Serve as quickly as possible!

Prepare the tortillas by either
(1) Heating them up on a griddle or on the grill (very healthy),
(2) Lightly frying them in canola oil, then resting on paper towels or hanging them in the oven over the oven rack (very awesome),
(3) Wrapping in a paper towel and microwaving for 30 seconds.

I place the tortillas, fish, cabbage mix, cream sauce, avocado and hot sauce on the table, and let people serve themselves!

Sheri’s Spanish Rice

Our friend Sheri loves to entertain in her beautiful home.  One of the dishes we have ‘stolen’ from her is her Spanish Rice.  It is spectacular and it’s now a regular in our home.  The pineapple juice element adds so much to the recipe!

Ingredients

1 tbsp Canola Oil
1 cup Jasmine or Basamati RiceI've been using Basamati more recently – It's less sticky, and seems better for fried rice recipes.
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Salt
2 tbsp Taco SauceLa Victoria Taco Sauce is a great refrigerator staple and works perfectly here. Sheri's original recipe calls for tomato sauce, which is really good. But we are taco sauce people now. And when I make it for Asian food, I often use chili garlic sauce!
2 Bay Leaves
2 Water
¼ cup Pineapple Juice. This adds fantastic taste. Do it if you can!

Directions

Heat Canola Oil in a skillet or pot that has a cover.

Add rice, salt, and garlic powder to the hot oil. Saute for 5-7 minutes until just browning.

Add taco sauce/tomato sauce/chili garlic sauce Stir to coat all rice.

Add water, pineapple juice, and bay leaves. Stir. When water begins to boil, cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 20 minutes.

Pineapple Salsa

This is a fresh and wonderful addition to fish, turkey, or chicken. It’s great with grilled food. Very simple to do, but it’s better if you make it ahead of time and let it marinate in its own juices.

Ingredients

1 tbsp Rice Vinegar or White Wine Vinegar (Rice Vinegar is much cleaner)
½ tsp Salt
½ tsp Cayenne Pepper
1 Pineapple, Cored and Chopped into small pieces.(If you are in a pinch, 2 cans of sliced pineapple will do.)
½ Red Onion, minced
1 cup Cilantro, washed and chopped

Directions

Chop and drain pineapple. Mix all ingredients together and chill for at least one hour.

Fish Tacos

We love fish tacos!   Our friends, especially my friend Merlin, love fish tacos. When I tell Merlin it’s fish taco night in the Matthews house, he always asks the same question, “Is it all you can eat?” Yes, Merlin, it is. 

They are  easy to make, healthy, inexpensive, and wildly popular.  Any fish will do, but our favorite by far is salmon.  Halibut, swordfish, cod, or tilapia are also great. You can gently reheat last night’s fish for some great fish tacos too. Don’t Microwave the fish. Just don’t. Jim Rome, a sports radio host, has the best take on this ever. He has taken time during several of his “sports” shows to try to teach the world never to microwave fish. It’s worth a listen. I join him in his crusade.

Ingredients

Salmon (or other excellent fish) – about 1/3 to 1/2 pound per person.
Cajun seasoning, Salt, and Ground Black Pepper
Cabbage (1 head is plenty for 8 servings)
Roma Tomatoes (1 tomato for every 2 servings)
Ranch Dressing or Sour Cream
Salsa
1 lime, plus 1/2 lime per serving
Avocados (1 avocado – 4 servings)
Corn Tortillas

Directions

Make a cream sauce of 1 cup sour cream, 3 Tbsp Salsa, zest and juice of 1 lime, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp black pepper. Add a little hot sauce (Cholula or other) if you like.

I have a good tartar sauce recipe tartar sauce recipe that I have not yet put on the website. But for me, with the grilled fish tacos, I much prefer straight salsa or this cream sauce.

Mix together cabbage and tomatoes, add a little onion if you want. Dress with some of the cream sauce if you like. Refrigerate both cabbage mix and cream sauce.

Cook salmon as per the grilled salmon recipe or the skillet salmon recipe . The only difference is that you can add a lot more cajun spice in addition to lemon pepper. Don’t be shy!

Prepare the tortillas by either
(1) Heating them up on a griddle (very healthy),
(2) Lightly frying them in canola oil, then resting on paper towels or hanging them in the oven over the oven rack (very awesome),
(3) Wrapping in a paper towel and microwaving for 30 seconds.

Cut up avocado into small slices.

Lay out prepared fish, cabbage salad, cut up avocados, lime slices, cream sauce, and hot sauce. Let people make their own and go to town!

Grilled Chicken with Mexican Marinade

If I can find a good Carniceria or Grocery with high quality marinated chicken using a recipe like this – I’m buying!  But it’s not hard at all to make your own, and you will like the results.

Ingredients

4 Chicken Breasts, Boned and Skinned or 8 boneless chicken thights
¾ cup Olive Oil
¾ cup Orange Juice (Juice from 2 oranges is even better!)
3 Limes, Juiced
3 Lemons, Juiced
2 tbsp Paprika
8 Cloves Garlic, Crushed (or 2 tsp minced dried garlic)
2 tsp Cumin
2 tsp Oregano
1 tsp Salt
1 Onion, chopped1 large or 2 small

Directions

Mix all marinade ingredients together. Set aside 1/3 of the mixture to use after the chicken is done.

Marinate chicken in remaining marinade (with the fruit rinds!) for at least 1 hour. Overnight is excellent. A good ziplock bag works here.

Remove chicken from marinade. Drain. (You can get flame-ups if you don’t drain before placing on the grill. I learned that the hard way.)

Cook chicken on a hot grill. Turn at least four times to get good grill marks on both sides. Take off the grill as soon as the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees (breasts) or 175 for thighs.

Plate the chicken or place it in some kind of dish, spoon the reserved marinade over it, and cover with foil until you are ready to serve. It will hold for 20-30 minutes. As always, for safety, don’t let the temperature drop below 140 degrees.