Taco Tuesday!

You know this isn't so bad, being away from *home* that is. I've HAD and keep GETTING these major joneses for fish ever since I got here and I keep telling myself: "Just adapt to beef damit, it's ALL anybody eats here". I mean fish was (and will continue to be a major part of my diet, I'm just gonna have to cut WAY back on the sashimi/sushi, because here you have to take out a small mortgage just to eat the stuff).

You know what? Fish is just better for you damit, but I do need to eat some more cow. See I have this problem with my iron count being way too low (like on some iron scale I'm a 9 or a 10 normally and I'm supposed to be a 12) so the cow will do me some good. Mooooo.

Anyway, on my way to the DFW area, I passed my this mom and pop restaurant in the middle of nowhere called "La Salsa", but it wasn't the food chain that I'm used to. Seeing it made me want one of their veggie bean burritos and thinking about them tasty burritos also made me think of this other restaurant called "Rubio's" who happen to have some of the best chain-food type fish tacos. Today also happens to be Rubio's $.99 Fish Taco Tuesday.

Anyway when I was planning out my menu earlier this week. I went to the fish counter at Krogers, looked at their fresh water white fish selection and saw buried under some of the other fish some seafood, a treasure of flounder!!! Could it be? Is it really there? YES!! So I ask the fishie guy for 1/3 of a lb of the treasure flounder. He wraps it up and as my cousin takes the fish from his hand, and before he puts it in the basket, he brings the wrapped fish paper up to his nose and inhales... My cousin said the fishie guy looked at him funny, I'm sure that if I saw him do that, I prob woulda smelled the fishie paper too. Of course this next moment would not have been as sweet as it was:

As it was, when I unwrapped the fish from the fridge today this wonderful aroma of fresh ocean fish filled the kitchen. AND OMG, It made me really miss the smell of the SD air. I totally miss that ocean smell and no candle or plugin in the world will ever come close to that beautiful aroma of fresh salty ocean air. This miracle treasure flounder came in really close though. The funny thing is, when ever I would cook fishies in SD, I could never understand what the TV chefs were talking about when they said to smell your fish. (I know what you're thinking with my last statement and you have a dirty mind!!!) Whenever I smelled my fish, it just smelled well like nothing.... Guess it was cause I was surrounded by that wonderful salty ocean cucumberey air. Who know's.

I had to do a little bit of leftover shopping today to pick up some missed items from yesterdays trip. I forgot the sour cream, the bread crumblies and the perfect peanut oil. Oops. I also went and picked up a cheap food processor. I've come to the conclusion that it will be the *hot* item / salsa processor or at the very least, it'll be used to grind up dry spices. Cause the blade thingie isn't solid, it's hollow which means it's gonna be a haven for nasty thingies if I happen to not wash it immediately after using it. (le sigh).

I get home, my cousin was sleeping (he work's nights) and I made the pink chili sauce. Lucky for me the blade noises didn't wake him up. The other good thing is the sauce had the chance to marinade in itself.... yummy... I also chopped / shredded up some cabbage. A side note about the cabbage. My cousin picked up this cabbage and I kid you not it was the size of a bowling ball!!!! In SD we're lucky if you get a cabbage that's the size of bocce ball (that's lawn bowling for rich old peeps). I just sat there staring at this freak cabbage, but you know what? It was soooo yummy!! I also chopped up about 5 limes into tiny wedges for the fish, the sauce and the taco garnish... mmm.. My mouth is watering again just writing this.

Chipotle Lime Sour Mayo

1 7oz can of Chipotle peppers, use only 1-2 peppers from the can (or more if you're daring)
equal parts mayonnaise & sour cream
lime juice and zest
salt & pepper
* mix in food processor and let refrigerate for about 2 hours, tastes better the longer you let it sit.

Now for the fun part. FISHIE GOODNESS!!!

Heat peanut oil to about 375 degrees.
Salt and pepper the fish and spritz with lime juice
For the fish batter mix 2 eggs and 1 TSP of fish broth (or water if you don't have broth) and soak the fish for about 2-5 minutes.
Next batter the fish in Panko bread crumbs (they say you can find these in the asian isle, but I found them hiding in the baking isle with the other bread crumbs) (and if you like Tempura, these are the same bread crumbs)
Let the fish kinda come to room temperature before putting them in the hot peanut oil
Cook for about 3-5 minutes until they're golden.
Once finished let them rest on one of those cookie baking cooling thingies, so the oil doesn't soak and cool in the fish.

Hehe, now time to play dress up with the tacos. My favorite part!!

Mannie's taco, can you tell that he really liked the chipotle sour mayo

One of my tacos. Ah the limey goodness!!

Oh yea, there's those corn tortilla thingies. Heat up some more peanut oil in a diff pan, about 1 TBSP will do, or at least enough to cover the bottom of the pan. Pop in the tortilla and flip it around for about 30-45 seconds. Any longer and you will have a fish tostada not a fish taco.

All I have to say is this meal really satisfied my fish craving (at least temporarily) and definitely settled down my little bit of homesickness. <>My fish tacos also taste better than Rubios!! < / end brag >

I was a little worried that I didn't get enough fish but Mannie said that it was likely going to be more than enough. However when I looked at the fish strip, it did look kinda skimpy. I *almost* snuck out and bought some more fish. Lucky for me (and because it was my first attempt here at this meal *another one of the foods Mannie said he really didn't care for* we almost had too much fish!! I feel really satisfied with my meal and was defiantly in no say stuffed. Even though it was fried food, it was very light and it didn't have that over powering taste of fish funk that most people complain about.

This is the 4th time somebody has said that about the fish I've made for them, and that makes me a very happy cook. Tomorrow, the ever famous shrimp scampi!!!