Beer-Battered Fish Tacos with Creamy Chipotle Sauce

The first time I had fish tacos was just this past September, in while in Aruba with my sister Allie. One evening after being totally exhausted from a fantastic snorkeling trip and not feeling much like venturing downtown for dinner, we headed down to the hotel's sports-themed bar/restaurant for a quick bite. We were very, very pleasantly surprised. Despite the corny ambiance we were fully impressed by their fish tacos, made with perfectly fried local fish and fresh, yummy toppings on white flour tortillas. Delish.

So, for some reason, I decided that I wanted to make some fish tacos of my own while still here on the Cape. Adventure!

The sauce is based off of my recipe for the spicy chipotle dressing that I used in my black bean bowls with brown rice and sweet corn salsa back in June. Basically you'll want to make the dressing in a food processor and add sour cream until you are happy with the texture - probably around three quarters of a cup or more. Since this will also cool down the spiciness of the sauce, it may take a little fiddling with to reach the level of spiciness that you're going for, but it's totally worth it. Also, this way you can make a signature sauce that's all your own.

Crispy golden fried fish covered in sauce and toppings.

This recipe serves 4 people.

Ingredients
1 1/2 lb. fresh cod fillets, sliced diagonally into about 4 inch strips
White flour tortillas (Not corn. That is a mistake that I very nearly made.)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 12 oz. bottle of lager (I used Sankaty Light Lager made by Cisco Brewers on Nantucket, which I recommend.)
Oil for frying (quantity will depend on the vessel you're using)
1/2 tsp. Old Bay Seasoning or a "house seasoning" mix

Oil for frying
Slotted or basket spoon, wok or cast-iron dutch oven for frying

Directions
1. Heat oil in your dutch oven or wok. If you have a thermometer for these purposes, you'll want it around 375 Fahrenheit. If not, you want it hot enough that if you add a drop of water, the oil sizzles and freaks out a little. Very scientific. (Another trick is to test the temperature with a cube of bread. If it browns within a minute, it's ready to go). Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 350 Fahrenheit.
2. Wrap your tortillas up in some aluminum foil and place in the oven. In a large bowl, pour out the beer. Sift 1 1/2 cups of the flour into the bowl, add house seasoning and whisk until just combined.
3. Pat fish dry with a paper towel, season on both sides with salt and pepper and coat with beer batter. Dredge fish in remaining flour and slide into the oil.
4. Fry fish until deep golden and cooked through, about 4 - 5 minutes. Transfer to baking sheet lined with paper towels and keep warm in oven, frying the remaining fish in batches.
5. Serve fish with toppings and sauce on a small pitcher, gravy boat, or with a ladle, and the warmed tortillas.

This batter is, in a word, fantastic. With the Sankaty Light Lager we used our batter came out light and crispy, without overwhelming the delicious, flaky white fish. I would recommend this for any kind of fried fish or seafood that you feel like beer-battering. The toppings are up to your own artistic license. I served them with shredded red cabbage, thinly sliced red onion, guacamole, a wedge of lime and the chipotle sauce, but they would also be delicious with a corn salsa, diced peppers and onions or even cucumber, if you're feeling adventurous.

My only caveat with this dish is the work involved. There is nothing difficult about the frying - the battering and cooking are all pretty simple - but you will almost certainly want an extra set of hands to help scoop out the cooked fish strips and transfer them to the baking sheet. Fortunately my Mom was there to (enthusiastically) do everything that my batter-covered hands were much too gunky to do. So grab a friend or two, some fresh fish and a beer and make some yummy, crispy tacos!

Quote of the Day: Chance is always powerful. Let your hook always be cast; in the pool where you least expect it, there will be fish. ~ Ovid

Grilled Eggplant Sandwiches with Red Onion, Tomato & Fresh Mozzarella

I have a long-standing distaste for eggplant. As a kid, when I tried my grandmother's eggplant Parmesan, I was shocked. Her ravioli, Italian wedding soup, pasta (which she always called "macaroni) and incredible repertoire of Italian cookies were so delicious, so perfectly crafted through decades of practice, each all fantastic in their own right. But this - this mushy, squishy stuff - people actually liked this? And indeed, like it they did. At age 10 (which was probably the last time I ate eggplant, until tonight) I was so utterly horrified by the texture of the vegetable that I had effectively sworn it off.

But 1) it is eggplant season, 2) in theory we all must grow up eventually, and 3) "eggplant" is my favorite color, so I thought it was time I give them another chance. And Brady, the resident eggplant-parm connoisseur, told me that if I like grilled portobellos, then the texture of eggplant would probably not gross me out anymore. There are many varieties of eggplant, and I was lucky enough to find one of the fanciest-looking ones at my very own grocery store:

 This sandwich, which is somewhat like a Mediterranean veggie burger, combines two to three slices of grilled eggplant with fresh tomato, mozzarella, some thinly sliced red onion with a bit of balsamic vinegar on bakery rolls. The Kaiser rolls we had on hand were slightly over-sized with respect to the circumference of the eggplant, so for high presentation points you probably want to use a globe eggplant and/or smaller buns, or toasted English muffins (why didn't I think of that before?). Likewise, larger balls of mozzarella make for better stacking. My recipe serves two:

Ingredients:

1 eggplant of any variety, sliced crosswise into 1/4 inch-thick rounds

1 large ball of fresh mozzarella, sliced into 1/4 inch-thick slices 

1 slicing tomato, cut into... you guessed it, 1/4 inch-thick slices

1 small red onion, thinly sliced

2 buns or English muffins

Balsamic vinegar

Red or white wine vinegar

Cooking spray

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Line a tray or platter with paper towels. Lay the rounds of eggplant on the paper towels in a single layer. Salt generously on both sides and allow to sit while you prepare the other ingredients.*

2. In a shallow dish, combine 1 tablespoon of the balsamic vinegar and 1 tablespoon of red or white wine vinegar, and a sprinkling of salt and pepper. Place sliced onions and tomatoes in the dish and turn to coat.

3. Spray a grill pan with cooking spray and heat it up over high heat.

4. When the eggplant slices have been sitting for at least 15 minutes, pat dry with paper towels and brush on both sides with olive oil. Grill for 3-4 minutes per side. Meanwhile, toast your buns, if desired.

5. To build your sandwich, first lay out your buns. Then stack two to three grilled eggplant slices, adding a slice or two of tomato and some red onion on top. Add a slice or two of fresh mozzarella and top with some fresh basil leaves.

Cook's Note: The salting-over-paper-towels step and general concept for this sandwich came from Elise's Grilled Eggplant Sandwich Recipe on SimplyRecipes.com. Her cooking instructions offer much more direction for using a traditional grill, but they can be easily adapted to grill pans, broilers or George Foreman Grills.

Sandwich construction: Phase 1, where I realize that Kaiser rolls are either too large or too small for this sandwich, and I can't decide which.

So, here's the thing. I can't really claim to be an eggplant convert. I can't say that the texture didn't gross me out a little, or that I didn't wonder what this fancy-looking vegetable was doing with all those thousands of tiny seeds. What I can say is that like many things, I can definitely enjoy it on a "once in a while" basis, or purely as a change of pace from my usual favorite ingredients. It didn't hurt that the other things in this sandwich - the mozzarella, the tomato, basil and red onion - are all among my top-10 favorites.

Still, I really can't hate on this sandwich. It's all the flavors of summer wrapped up in a soft, yummy roll. Get on it!

Quote of the Day: I doubt that the imagination can be suppressed. If you truly eradicated it in a child, he would grow up to be an eggplant. ~ Ursula K. LeGuin

Thai Turkey Lettuce Wraps

I've seen recipes like this one floating around out there on the internets, so I figured I could kind of fake it. This approach worked much better than with last night's quinoa burgers.

That said, I'm not sure just how Thai these really are. For me, they are a fresh twist on one of my all-time favorite foods, the taco. Plus, as you might have noticed, cilantro, lime, and Sriracha are some of my favorite flavors, and I welcome any opportunity to use them.

This recipe happens to be very low-carb, which may be appealing to you, and if you pay attention to what soy sauce you are using, it is also gluten-free. Sriracha is apparently gluten free, and while many brands make gluten-free varieties of soy sauce, every one produced by La Choy brand is gluten free. Still, if this is a concern, read your labels to be sure.

I served this with hot brown rice, which you will cook according to package directions. You could also use quinoa or something similar.

Ingredients:

4 whole leaves of Romaine, Boston, or Butter lettuce, washed

1/3 - 1/2 lb ground turkey

1/4 red onion, finely chopped

1 carrot, finely chopped

1/2 green bell pepper, chopped

1/4 peanuts, chopped

1 handful fresh cilantro, washed and coarsely chopped

2 green onion, thinly sliced, or about 1 tbsp. chopped chives

1/4 - 1/2 tsp sriracha, plus more for serving

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tsp lime juice

2 tsp soy sauce

Canola oil

Directions:

1. In a medium to large frying pan, saute pan or wok, drizzle a bit of canola oil. Over medium heat, brown your turkey, breaking apart with a spatula.

2. Meanwhile, you can arrange your topping ingredients - your cilantro, chives, peanuts, and red onion - in small bowls for serving, if you wish. This is also a good time to wash your lettuce leaves. (We used two Romaine leaves each.)

3. In a small bowl or glass (okay, I used a jar) combine your lime juice, garlic, and soy sauce.

4. When turkey is cooked turn off the heat and drain the meat of excess oil, except for about 2 teaspoons. Pour in your lime juice mixture, add the carrot and bell pepper, and mix to combine before transferring to a serving platter.

This would be a fun dish to serve at a party with friends, or with family, if your family is sort of fun and not afraid of mess and/or Asian food. I think you could also use fish sauce, or basically any other Asian sauce in your lime juice mixture. A little sesame oil would also be good. (Since I don't know exactly what "Thai" is, I can't act like I won't use potentially foreign ingredients in these wraps in the future.)

 Basically, you should make these. They're fresh, yummy, easy to make and fun to assemble. Also, you could very easily pack this as a take-along lunch: just keep your turkey mixture separate from your lettuce, and pack a little container or baggie of mixed toppings, and as long as you're not trying to eat it in the car or something crazy, you're good to go. You might skip the rice unless you are able to heat it up come lunchtime, but I think the turkey would be just as good cold. Tah-dah!

Quote of the Day: Lettuce is like conversation; it must be fresh and crisp, so sparkling that you scarcely notice the bitter in it. ~ Charles Dudley Warner