Monday :: Fish Tacos in Brooklyn

Just back from a lovely lovely vacation with my darling family down in Brooklyn. We missed seeing our beautiful friends there so much as well as doing the things we love in the city! We missed it so much that the five days were chockerblock full of wonderful adventures and of course some eating adventures too! I was pleasantly surprised to find amazing food like these fish tacos at the Flea though -- so I had to put them down in words here for you to try too.

These fish tacos were served up right at the Brooklyn Flea on Saturday and man were they tasty. I found a recipe which seemed quite close to these so am sharing that with you here. Of course you should try and make some handmade tortillas too - but I want to get a friend's recipe for those as we have done them together. For now, grab yourself some fine multi grain ones for these babies. Here is a recipe I found and modified from All Recipes

Fish Tacos:

• 1 lb of very fresh fish fillets - codfish or haddock please!
• Salt and pepper
• Olive oil

• 1 doz corn tortillas (3 tortillas per person)
• Vegetable oil or butter for the tortillas to fry in in the pan

• Salsa
• 1 ripe Avocado

• Red Cabbage
• Cider vinegar
• Salt

1 Prepare the salsa. Either use store bought or make your own. (See above link for Mango Salsa, which is especially good with fish.)

2 Prepare the cabbage and avocado. Thinly slice cabbage. Put in a small serving bowl. Sprinkle with cider vinegar (about a Tbsp) and salt (about a tsp). Mix in the vinegar and salt. Peel avocado and remove seed. Chop and reserve for later.

3 Heat the tortillas in a pan with the fat you chose from above.

Remove the tortilla from the pan and place it folded on a plate. If the pan is large enough you can prepare two or more tortillas at once. Continue until all the tortillas (estimate 3 per person) are cooked. Set aside.

4 Cook the fish. Soak the fish fillets in cold water for at least one minute. Pat dry with a paper towel. Heat a large stick-free skillet to medium high heat. Add a couple of teaspoons of olive oil to the skillet. Place fish on skillet. Cooking time depends on the thickness of the fillets. Coat them a little with some loose cornmeal/flour combo before turning ... A thin fillet may take only one minute on each side to cook. A thicker fillet may take a couple of minutes. Fish should be still barely translucent when cooked. Break off a piece and test if you are not sure. Do not overcook the fish. Remove from pan when done to a separate plate. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

5 I think tacos are best when you assemble them yourself. Place the plate of tortillas, the plate of fish, the salsa, the cabbage, and the avocados on the table and let everyone assemble their own.