The best way to eat whiting is nice and simple, right? Unfortunately, someone forgot to tell Miguel. Instead, he welded Jack and Alli’s South Australian whiting fillets into a fusion of Aussie, Spanish and Mexican flavours, concocting these delicious crunchy, soft whiting tacos. Just add a Corona — or perhaps tequila, if you’re in a festive mood.
CORN SALSA INGREDIENTS
• 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cobs sweetcorn, kernels sliced off
• 2 ripe field tomatoes, cores removed, diced to size of corn kernels
• ½ bunch of coriander leaves
• ½ Spanish onion, diced to size of corn kernels
• 1 lime, juiced
• 1 fresh (or pickled) jalapeño, deseeded and diced
• salt and pepper, to taste
CORN SALSA PREP
• Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a medium-sized saucepan over a high heat.
• Sautee corn for 2 minutes, stirring from time to time, until coloured and just cooked.
• Combine sauteed corn with all other ingredients in a bowl. Set aside.
BAJA SAUCE INGREDIENTS
• 10 pickled green peppercorns, or peppercorns from 1/2 strand of fresh green pepper
• 1 jalapeño, roughly chopped
• 1/4 bunch coriander, roughly chopped
• 1 lime, juiced
• 3 tbsp sour cream
• 1 tbsp olive oil salt
BAJA SAUCE PREP
• In a mortar and pestle, pound together peppercorns, chili, coriander and lime juice to form a rough paste.
• Add sour cream and olive oil, and stir to combine.
• Season and set aside.
POPCORN FISH INGREDIENTS
• 400g whiting fillets boned and skinless, cut into 3cm x 6cm pieces
• 1 cup flour
• 3 eggs
• 50g lightly salted popcorn, blended to a coarse crumb in a food processor
• Sunflower oil for shallow frying
• salt and pepper
• Crunchy Soft Tacos
• 6 hard taco shells
• 6 soft tortillas, softened by charring over an open flame
• 1 ripe avocado
• 1/4 tsp lime juice
• 1 dash olive oil
• 1 tsp sour cream
• salt and pepper
POPCORN FISH PREP
• Place flour on a plate. Whisk eggs in a bowl. Spread popcorn crumb onto a separate plate.
• Coat 1 piece of fish in flour, shaking off excess. Dip in beaten egg, allowing excess to drip off. Finally, toss in popcorn crumb to coat. Set aside on a clean plate. Repeat with remaining fish.
• Fill a large frying pan with sunflower oil to a depth of 4cm. Heat over medium-high to 200C (a cube of bread will turn golden in 30 seconds when the oil is hot enough).
• Cook fish, in batches, for around 2 minutes on each side or until golden and cooked through.
• Drain on paper towel and season
CRUNCHY SOFT TACOS
• Cut avocado in half and remove seed, setting aside. Using a fork, mash the avocado together in each half with lime juice, sour cream and olive oil to form a rough guacamole. To preserve greenness, return seed to centre of avocado and stick the two halves together to close until you’re ready to use.
• Spread a spoonful of guacamole on the centre of one side of each soft tortilla. Place hard taco shell on centre of flour tortilla. Gently press the soft tortilla to the sides of the hard taco shell, using the guacamole as glue. Set aside, and repeat with remaining taco shells and tortillas.
• To serve, spoon some salsa into the base of the hard taco, top with one or two pieces of fish, and drizzle with Baja sauce. Eat immediately.
RECIPE: MIGUEL MAESTRE
IMAGES : THE CAPTAIN & MIGUEL MAESTRE
Recent Comments