Tuesday With Tierra! (Fish Tacos)

Hello All!! Isnt it a beautiful Tuesday?! Finally! Well I just realized I am in Utah so maybe it isnt nice in Idaho.
Anywho, now I used to think fish tacos sounded horrible... who would combine fish and mexican food?! Well i finally decided to try one at Rubios and wow! I fell in love and became an addict on where to find the best fish tacos! Then I thought... well why dont I learn to make my own?! What a brilliant idea! The tricky part was finding a recipe that had the White Sauce that I have noticed on most the Fish Taco's I have eaten... cause most people just use tarter sauce, and I did not want tarter sauce.
Finally, I found an amazing recipe on Allrecipes.com So when I find a recipe on the internet I also read a lot of the reviews to get what other people suggest when making it.
So i will begin by giving you the original recipe and then tell you what I did.

Original Fish Taco Recipe by Allrecipes.com
prep time: 40 min cook time: 20 min ready to eat: 1 hour

You will need:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1 cup beer (the alcohol will cook out, I did find some places that said you can use club soda instead, but that the yeast in the beer is what the key thing is)
  
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• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1 jalapeno pepper, minced (i did not use this)
  
• 1 teaspoon minced capers (i did not use this)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed (i used 1/2tsp of parsley instead, dill weed is expensive)
  
• 1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
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• 1 quart oil for frying
• 1 pound cod fillets, cut into 2 to 3 ounce portions (i used tilapia instead, its cheaper and was fantastic)
  
• 1 (12 ounce) package corn tortillas (i used white corn tortillas cause i like them better)
  
• 1/2 medium head cabbage, finely shredded

Directions: (in the picture: this was our line up of things, fish cut up, dipped in flour, dipper in beer batter, into deep fryer, and out onto plate lol)

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Directions

1. To make beer batter: In a large bowl, combine flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt. Blend egg and beer, then quickly stir into the flour mixture (don't worry about a few lumps).
2. To make white sauce: In a medium bowl, mix together yogurt and mayonnaise. Gradually stir in fresh lime juice until consistency is slightly runny. Season with jalapeno, capers, oregano, cumin, dill, and cayenne.(or season with just the things i did and make this earlier in the day and refrigerate, helps the seasonings to blend together)
   
3. Heat oil in deep-fryer to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

1. Dust fish pieces lightly with flour. Dip into beer batter, and fry until crisp and golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Lightly fry tortillas; not too crisp. To serve, place fried fish in a tortilla, and top with shredded cabbage, and white sauce.
2. I also got some fresh salsa and sliced up limes for the fish tacos.
   
3. I served these with some rice.
   

As you can see in the picture the fish was huge for the tortillas, so my second taco i sliced the fish in half, long ways, and it was perfect! Along with the cabbage, white sauce, salsa and lime juice squeezed on there... this was a little piece of heaven!!

Will definitely make these again!! You can even just make the Beer Battered Fish and make homemade fries with it and some tarter sauce. Voila! Fish and Chips! lol My husband liked the batter so much he thinks i should try it on chicken lol We will see!

Enjoy!!!

Mediterranean-style grilled salmon

Click on the photo to be taken to the Mayo Clinic site ( and see nutrition facts) where I got this recipe.
I will admit, I was a little apprehensive about trying this recipe because I'm not a huge fish or seafood fan (seriously, my fish cuisine is usually limited to canned tuna and salmon and the occasional imitation crab - yes, I've tried it all and I thought it was disgusting). But it actually turned out really yummy (despite the overwhelming fishy smell when it first started cooking) and I'm excited to eat it again.

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 4 salmon fillets, each 5 ounces
• Cracked black pepper, to taste
• 4 green olives, chopped
• 4 thin slices lemon

Directions:
Prepare a hot fire in a charcoal grill or heat a gas grill or broiler.
In a small bowl, combine the basil, parsley, minced garlic and lemon juice.
Spray the fish with cooking spray. Sprinkle with black pepper. Top each fillet with equal amounts of the basil-garlic mixture.
Place the fish herb-side down on the grill. Grill over high heat. When the edges turn white, after about 3 to 4 minutes, turn the fish over and place on a small section of household aluminum foil. Move the fish to a cooler part of the grill or reduce the heat. Grill until the fish is opaque throughout when tested with the tip of knife and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part reads 145 F (about 4 minutes longer).
Remove the salmon and place on warmed plates. Garnish with green olives and lemon slices.

Our own directions for cooking it in your broiler (We don't have a charcoal grill so we made ours in the broiler instead. Like I said, it still turned out fine, but here are our suggestions for adapting the directions just a tad):
Turn on the broiler before preparing salmon and move rack to lowest spot in oven. Prepare salmon as directed above.
Line broiler pan with tinfoil and place salmon on broiler pan herb-side up (that's important because the heat comes from above when broiling). Cook until top begins to look finished; then turn it over. Cook for 8-10 minutes, or until fish is done (don't ask me how to tell because I have no idea - we just cooked it until we were sure it wasn't still raw and I have no idea what "opaque" means).
Garnish as above (and this was so yummy!).