Michigan Cottage Cook: BAJA FISH TACOS MICHIGAN-STYLE

Do you know the way to ............................................?

Lazy days of summer at a marina.

When Tom's cousins and I made Amber's, the fish monger's wife, recipe for Lake Michigan Whitefish with turmeric, cumin and white pepper, I thought the fish would be great for fish tacos. Tom would not agree. He liked everything crispy and would have wanted me to deep-fry the fish. However, his cousins and I try to limit the fat grams in our foods.

There have been many pictures of Amber on the blog, but none of Eric, the fish monger. Here he is hard at work packing the wonderful salmon they featured this summer.

The thought of combining Baja fish tacos, Baja is where fish tacos originated, with Michigan sounded like fun. Baja is a peninsula jutting into the Pacific Ocean. Michigan is two peninsulas nestled within the Great Lakes. Baja has warm weather all year long with coastline, mountains, and deserts. Michigan has miles and miles of fresh water coastline, inland lakes everywhere, and cold winters. What all three peninsulas have is an abundance of fresh fish for making fabulous tacos.

The recipe for making our fish tacos looks complicated. It is not. You need fish, tortillas-flour or corn, Lake Superior Tartar Sauce with a Mexican Kick, shredded cabbage, salsa, fresh chopped tomatoes, chopped green onions, and fresh limes.

Frequently recipes have to be adjusted to fit the taste of your diners. I did not put the tartar into the cabbage to make a dressing as Joyce does not mayonnaise although she ended up loving the sauce. I served the tartar sauce and cabbage separately so everyone could add what they wanted. John does not like "hot/spicy" food so I didn't use much chipotle pepper adobo sauce in the tartar sauce.

To make our fish tacos Michigan-style, we used Amber's recipe for Lake Michigan Whitefish. For complete recipes with pictures copy and paste these web addresses:

http://michigancottagecook.blogspot.com/2011/08/lake-michigan-whitefish-amber-style.html

http://michigancottagecook.blogspot.com/2010/09/easy-grilled-fish.html

http://michigancottagecook.blogspot.com/2010/07/fish-fillets-two-ways.html

LAKE MICHIGAN WHITEFISH AMBER-STYLE

Whitefish fillets, or other mild tasting fish

Turmeric

Cumin

White pepper

Sprinkle turmeric on the fillet side of the fish. Lightly sprinkle the cumin on the fish. Sprinkle with white pepper to taste. Grill or pan fry/bake. See the Michigan Cottage Cook post on fish grilling or pan fry/bake methods: http://michigancottagecook.blogspot.com/2010/07/fish-fillets-two-ways.html

The seasonings for Amber's fish recipe.

Sprinkle seasonings on fish fillets.

Turmeric gives the fish a nice color.

Grill or bake the fish.

I thought Wanda's Lake Superior Tartar Sauce would make a excellent dressing for the cabbage salad part of our fish tacos.

http://michigancottagecook.blogspot.com/2010/07/lake-michigan-lake-trout-with-wandas.html

WANDA’S LAKE SUPERIOR HOMEMADE TARTAR SAUCE WITH A MEXICAN KICK
So quick, so easy, so good.

1/2 c mayonnaise
1 heaping T sweet pickle relish
1 t cider vinegar
1/2 t sugar
1 t or to taste canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

Mix the ingredients together, adjust seasoning to taste.

Ingredients: Mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish, cider vinegar, sugar, chipotle in adobo sauce, and shredded cabbage.

Put mayonnaise in a bowl.

Add sweet pickle relish.

Add sugar and cider vinegar.

Add chipotle adobe sauce and mix together.

Finished sauce is in green bowl. I would add it to the shredded cabbage to make coleslaw if Joyce liked mayonnaise.

We wanted crispy corn tortillas for our tacos again without the grease of frying them. Check out:

http://michigancottagecook.blogspot.com/2010/04/tortillas-cheese-and-steak-part-i.html for ways of fixing tortillas. Here is my way for making crispy corn tortillas