beer-battered catfish tacos.

One of the perks of marriage is having someone to take care of you.  

This past weekend I managed to splice off the top of my finger and come down with the flu and having Tyler bandage me up and make me tea reminded me that marriage and relationships are about taking care of one another.  I like to pretend I am superwoman - that if I am sick with the flu that I can still go to work, and go to the gym, and make dinner, and be everything for everyone.  Sometimes you have to let that all go and wear sweatpants all day and watch a lot of really bad Bravo TV and be taken care of.  

It's nice being taken care of.  

But as much as I like being taken care of, I much prefer taking care of others - usually by cooking. While tacos aren't the most romantic of foods it's up there with pizza and cheese as my Valentine's Day meal of choice.  These fish tacos are the kind of perfect food because the two of you can make them together - one can assemble the slaw, the other the beer batter, and together you can fry the fish up.  Wash the tacos down with a couple of beers and a box of chocolates.  Sometimes romance is being taken care of and other times its doing something together.   

Beer-Battered Catfish Tacos

From The Homesick Texan’s Family Table, by Lisa Fain

Serves 4

For the Cabbage Topping

2 cups shredded cabbage

1½ teaspoons kosher salt

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 jalapeño, stemmed, seeded, and finely minced

¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

¼ teaspoon toasted cumin seeds

2 tablespoons white vinegar

For the Beer Batter

¼ cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup cornmeal

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon kosher salt

¼ teaspoon black pepper

Pinch of cayenne

1 egg

1 cup dark (preferably Mexican but anything works) beer

For the Catfish

Oil, for frying

1 pound catfish fillets, cut into thin sticks or bite-sized nuggets

1 teaspoon kosher salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

¼ cup all-purpose flour

Corn or flour tortillas, warmed, for serving

Optional Additions - Lime wedges, sliced avocado, crema or sour cream 

Hot sauce or store-bought salsa, for serving

To make the cabbage topping, toss the cabbage with the salt and allow to sit for 1 hour, refrigerated.

Rinse and drain the cabbage. Stir in the garlic, jalapeño, cilantro, cumin seeds, and vinegar. Taste and adjust the seasonings, and then keep refrigerated until you are serving.

To make the beer batter, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, cumin, salt, pepper, and cayenne until well combined. Beat the egg with the beer and then pour into the flour mixture and stir until a smooth batter forms. Allow the batter to rest at room temperature for 1 hour. If it separates a bit during this time, simply whisk it again before using.

After the batter has rested, in a large, heavy skillet, heat 2 inches of oil over medium heat until it reaches 350°F. If you don’t have a candy thermometer, after 5 minutes of heating, you can stick a wooden spoon into the oil to see if it’s ready. If the oil bubbles around the spoon, it should be hot enough. Line a baking sheet with paper towels.

To fry the catfish, first season it evenly with the salt, pepper, and lime juice. Place the ¼ cup of flour on a plate, then, working in batches, lightly dredge the catfish in the flour. Holding it by one end, dip the catfish in the beer batter until well coated, and then gently lower into the oil. Fry for 2½ to 3 minutes, or until golden, turning once. Remove from the oil with a slotted spoon and drain the catfish on the paper towels. Repeat for the remaining fish.

Serve the fried fish with the warm tortillas, lime wedges, cabbage topping, sliced avocado, sour cream or crema, and salsa and let diners assemble their own tacos.

buttermilk bacon fat flour tortillas.

Tyler and I as of late seem to be playing a perpetual game of “What do we have in the fridge that we can cram into a tortilla for dinner tonight?”.  This is a rather fun game because

A – Everything tastes good in a tortilla. (True story.)

B - You get to come up with ridiculously fun combinations of things using all the leftovers in your fridge.  (A ¼ cup of beans, 1 ear of corn, some roasted poblanos, shredded monterey jack, and cherry tomatoes.  That sounds like an ideal taco filling.  I am also partial to the kale, corn, bean, and lime combination I created this past weekend.) 

This game is as fun as it is because I have developed a slight obsession with homemade flour tortillas.  It started a few months ago with these and now that I have discovered yet another recipe, I have found myself looking for just about any excuse to eat tacos (and who even needs an excuse?).  

This particular tortilla recipe is so perfect that I can't imagine I will ever need another one.  These tortillas cook up tender, almost buttery with the right mix of tang and smokiness.  The addition of bacon grease is pure genius (because how many people keep their grease never knowing what to do with it?  That would be me!).  I love them with scrambled eggs and hot sauce but let's be honest, I haven't met a filling they didn't work with.  

Buttermilk Bacon Fat Flour Tortillas
Recipe from The Homesick Texan's Family Table via Serious Eats 

This is a particularly awesome recipe for the summer because if you are anything like me, you've been eating BLT's or BLAT's at least once a week (if you haven't been, I think there is something wrong with you).  Now you can save all of that wonderful bacon flavoring and turn it into tortillas!  One meal turns into another.  

Makes 8 -10 Tortillas depending on how wide you make them.  

2 tablespoons bacon grease (see note)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

3/4 cup buttermilk

Combine the bacon grease and butter in a pot and cook over medium-low heat until bacon grease and butter have melted. Remove from heat.

In a bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt. Pour in the melted fat mixture and stir until the flour is crumbly. Pour in the buttermilk and stir until a soft dough forms.

Place the dough on a floured surface and knead for 2 minutes until the dough is firm and smooth.

Cover the dough and let it rest for an hour. Divide the dough into 8 or 10 pieces and roll each piece into a ball.

One at a time, place a dough ball on a floured surface, pat it out into a 4-inch circle, and then roll with a rolling pin from the center out until the tortilla is thin and about 6 - 8 inches in diameter.

Keep the rolled-out tortillas covered, side by side, until you are ready to cook. (I usually have one cooking as I roll out another.)

In a dry cast iron skillet heated over medium heat, cook each tortilla for 30 seconds on one side, flip it, and then cook for 1 minute on the other side. It should start to puff up a bit. Flip it again and cook for 30 more seconds.

Cover the cooked tortilla with a cloth until you are ready to serve.

Repeat with the remaining balls of dough.

Note: Bacon grease is what's left over in the skillet after cooking bacon. To save my bacon grease, I pour it into a glass jar and store it in the refrigerator.

coconut-lime pork tacos with black beans.

Right now, New York is in the midst of a blizzard named Janus (really who names these things?) which is leaving commuters to battle against sideways snow, great gusts of wind, and slush filled sidewalks.  I made it home (my toes are still frozen but I have high hopes feeling will return to them by the time I finish catching up on Girls) but not before thinking a great deal about moving to the west coast (California I still love you).  I will not do such a thing the number one reason being that fall in New York steals my heart, but don't think I haven't thought a great deal about it.   

While I can't experience sunshine beating down on my face anytime soon (I think April will be the earliest that will happen and even still that's a far ways away), I can shove tacos into my face, sit it front of a portable heater, and drink tequila which is almost as good as actual sunshine (once you're drunk everything is great).  

These tacos are a great winter dish for when you find your insides aching for summer (or at least some warmth). Nothing screams the tropics like ground pork combined with coconut! lime! pineapple! avocado! (I've become an avocado addict).  The spices add the necessary heat and warmth which is something I crave immensely this time of year.  Serve it lots of hot sauce and some tequila and lime and you basically have the beginnings of a really awesome winter party.  

Coconut-Lime Pork Tacos with Black Beans 

Recipe adapted from Food 52

When I initially read this recipe I thought the dish would bring together the world of Thai food and Mexican food onto a flour tortilla and it kind of does that but in a much subtler way then how you would imagine.  The coconut milk provides the subtlest level of sweetness but more importantly keeps the pork moist which in my mind is the most important thing. Being the spice obsessed person that I am, I upped the amount of spices in this dish to cater to my own tastes and flavor preferences.  I think for an entire pound of pork you can use the extra punch of flavors but adjust according to your own tastes.  

Serves 4 to 6

1 pound ground pork

1 small onion, finely chopped

2 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

2 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 ½ teaspoons oregano

1 teaspoon paprika

1 ½ teaspoon Spanish smoked paprika

Cayenne pepper, to taste

2/3 cups coconut milk, stirred (full-fat recommended)

3 tablespoons pineapple juice

2 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice, from about 1 lime

2 cups or one 15 ounce can cooked black beans, drained and rinsed

Corn or flour tortillas, for serving

1 large avocado, diced or sliced

Other recommended toppings: corn salsa, chopped cilantro, sour cream, shredded cheddar or Monterey jack cheese or cotija cheese, hot sauce 

In a large skillet, heat one tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and a large pinch of salt and pepper; cook, stirring occasionally, until they soften, about 3 to 5 minutes. Push the onion and garlic to one side of the pan, and add the cumin, chili powder, paprika(s), oregano, and cayenne. Let sizzle in the pan until they’re toasted and fragrant, about 1 minute, then stir well until the onions and garlic are evenly coated with the spices.

Add the ground pork to the pan. Cook over medium-high heat, breaking up any large chunks of pork and stirring occasionally, until the pork is just cooked through. Season with salt to taste. Remove any excess fat from the pan.

Add the coconut milk; simmer for about 5 minutes until thickened, then stir in the black beans, pineapple juice and 1 tablespoon lime juice and cook for an additional minute or two. Taste and add more lime juice if needed. Adjust the seasoning to taste. You can serve right away, or cover the pan and let the pork gently simmer over low heat.

Using a slotted spoon, divide the ground pork equally among lightly warmed flour tortillas. Serve with lots of avocado and other toppings of your choice.

taco fever.

I took a sneak peak at the dinning section in tomorrow's New York Times and it's an issue all about Tacos.  

Tacos! 

The boy likes to joke with me that we are part Mexican due to the fact that we eat tacos with such regularity. It is true that we eat tacos a lot, more then most, mostly because I can't get enough of them.  Tacos are easy. They are handheld packages that can be stuffed with any and every variety of filling. Spaghetti squash, black beans, carnitas, skirt steak, fish, cheese, the list goes on. They are a complete meal and an absurdly satisfying meal.  Tacos are comforting.  Tacos, second only to pizza are my favorite food.  

Good tacos are hard to find.  Some are so overly stuffed it's impossible to bring taco to mouth without filling landing on your lap.  Some are too delicate and cute that eating them feels wrong.  But some tacos are glorious.  The tortilla encases the perfect amount of filling, there is hot sauce a plenty to pour on top.  It's a perfect 4 bite affair.  

The best taco I had as of late was at Los Tacos No. 1 in the Chelsea Market.  Their adobada quesadilla was an un-tradional quesadilla that was served open face.  It was salty and sweet and the kind of thing all tacos should be but few rarely are.  

If you can't make it too the Chelsea Market, there are more taco recipes on this blog then should be allowed. Take your pick, you wont be disappointed.  Now I'm off to figure out when our next taco night will be.  

chipotle chicken, corn, and avocado tacos.
fish tacos with peppadew tartar sauce.
spaghetti squash and black bean tacos with queso fresco.
tacos al carbon.
tacos with carnitas and pineapple salsa.
tacos with chroizo and potatoes.