Fish Tacos

Sorry it has been a couple of days since I last posted. Things are going to be a bit sporadic for the next few weeks. For those of you that don't know, my final day at my desk job was last Friday and on Monday I went to work learning to drive a barge. 

Remember how I mentioned I was an honorary assistant harbor master as a kid? When the Fish King gave up being the Harbor Master he retained many of his contacts and began a seasonal marine services business. On Monday, David and I started apprenticing under the Fish King with the ultimate goal of assuming all responsibilities of the business. 

April and May is "ramps and floats" season. In a nutshell, we are un-winterizing dock systems. During the winter, floats are stored on beaches or on a ways system. The ramps are stored on the dock. At high tide we haul the float into the water and hook it up to the wharf. 

Float on Ways

The season is short and brutal. We can't start until the winter storms are over and we have to be finished before our customers get bitten by the summer bug (which usually happens as soon as we have more than two days of warm sunshine in a row). Our window is further shortened by only being able to work at high tide. If that wasn't hard enough, we also require large high tides (at least 9 feet). 

So this is where I have been and where I will be for the next few weeks. This is why things may be a bit sporadic. I am soft and squishy after spending 4.5 years at a desk and 6 hours of hard physical labor on the water tuckers me out. That being said, I bring you fish tacos.

Baked Haddock Tacos

Frying fish is delicious, but messy. This recipe removes the mess but leaves the crunchy awesomeness. I kind of made it up as I went, so don't exactly have measurements for everything.

Ingredients

- 1 filet of haddock cut into bite sized pieces

- 1 egg beaten (two, depending on the size of your filet, I was running out of egg at the end)

- flour (maybe a cup or two)

- panko (about two cups)

- sour cream (about 4 oz)

- 1 chipotle chili in adobo sauce (you can add more if you like things spicy)

- 1 lime

- small head of red cabbage

- soft tortillas

- shredded cheese (we used a pre-blended "mexi-cheese" but decided we should have used the fresh mozzarella we had in the fridge)

- A bunch of fresh cilantro

1. I tend to be a wreck in the kitchen. I am really trying to work on getting everything thing prepped and ready before I need it. Having your assembly line set up is key when coating anything in a crumb or batter. Lining everything up in the right order also helps prevent cross contamination.

Raw fish on cutting board to the left; flour; beaten egg; panko  

2.  Moving from left to right, coat your fish pieces in flour then dip in egg and roll in panko.

3. We pre-heated oven to 375 F and baked for about 10 minutes and then broiled for another couple of minutes until the nuggets were golden brown. We decided, in the future, we would skip the baking and go straight to broil. Little nuggets of fish do not take long to cook. 

4. While the fish is cooking, chiffonade (chop into thin pieces) the red cabbage.

5.  In a food processor or blender, combine the chipotle chili; sour cream; a handful of chopped cilantro; and juice from a quarter of the lime.   

*Note: I have never used more than a couple chilis out of a can at one time, luckily they freeze well. If you pack them flat in a zip lock bag, they freeze soft and can be broken apart easily for future use.

6. Slice the remaining lime into wedges. Chop cilantro. 

7. That's it. Serve and enjoy.