Fish Tacos

Think of west coast. Think of fish tacos on the coast. What could be better? Well, my fish tacos of course. Wisconsin has an abundance of fish as well and heck we are one of the few cities that celebrate in the weekly Friday night fish fry! My family loves the fish fry, and recently I wanted to extend my normal Friday night fish fry into something a bit more playful, and hence the fish taco.

These fish tacos are not only super delicious, but they are really easy to make. Beer battered tilapia, on fresh corn tortillas, double stacked, with really fresh ingredients, and did I mention the killer sauce that goes with it? No? Let’s get started then.

Ingredients:

• Thin tilapia fillets, cleaned, patted dry (you can use another white fish fillet as well, thinner the better)
• 1 can of your favorite beer
• 3/4 to 1 cup of all purpose flour
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/4 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 cup of vegetable or canola oil
• 6 tbsp mayonnaise
• 1 chipotle pepper, seeded, with roughly 2 tbsp of the adobo sauce
• Shredded green cabbage
• Shredded carrots, 2
• pico de gallo
• 1 lime, quartered
• 1 ripe avocado, pitted, and sliced
• cilantro sprigs
• fresh corn tortillas or store bought corn, fresher the better

Sounds like a lot right? It’s not. Most of the items listed at the top are for your batter. All items below that are your toppings, or stuffing’s for that matter.

Start by heating a large fry pan with the oil. You can bring up the temp a bit when you are ready to fry. Add your beer, flour, egg, salt, peppers, and oregano into a large bowl, and mix to make yourself a batter. It does not have to be thick. The goal is to throw the cleaned fillets into the batter, let soak for five minutes or so, then lay them into a pan of heated oil.

Fry each fillet for about four minutes per side. You keep an eye on it. The outcome is a golden brown fillet. Once you have fried them, let them rest on some paper towel, or strainer, and sprinkle a bit of salt on them.

As the fillets are cooking, or resting, add the chopped chipotle and adobo sauce to a small serving bowl, and mix it with the mayonnaise. Set aside. Next, make your pico de gallo and set aside. The reset is pretty self explanatory, and what I like to do is get a large serving platter and line the plate with all of the toppings. Take the shredded cabbage and carrots and toss in a bowl. Present all of the ingredients including the cabbage and carrot mixture on the large platter, along with the pico de gallo, cilantro, lime wedges, and avocado. In the middle, add the cooked fillets.

The next step is to warm your tortillas. You can do this anyway you choose, whether it is a skillet, flat top grill, or microwave. If you have a tortilla warmer, use it.

Take two tortillas, add your fish fillet, and load it up. Drizzle the chipotle mayo, and get ready. Trust me, the chipotle mayo alone is a winner, and I am not a fan of mayonnaise, but when you add a chipotle to it, or garlic and red onion, well, then the game is on.

This is a great Saturday or Sunday dish, and it is sure to be a winner with family or friends. Enjoy.