Ensenada Fish Tacos
Create a vibrant Mexican-inspired dinner with Rick Stein's Ensenada Fish Tacos served with a delicious chipotle sauce.
From the book
Rick Stein: The Road to Mexico
Classic dishes you'll fall in love with
All the recipes from Rick's TV series
Learn to make authentic Mexican food
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Introduction
For many years the beaches on the north coast of Cornwall were patrolled by Australian lifeguards, originally because they had the surf life-saving skills that were unfamiliar to the locals. For me, this meant many summers of friendship with pleasant Australians, all of whom seemed to be sunny and optimistic. Well, you would be, wouldn’t you, with a summer in Cornwall and lots of locals finding you irresistible? One such lifeguard was Rudi, who used to return year after year. Everyone was extremely fond of him – so much so that we filmed a little sequence about a trip he’d made to Ensenada on the Baja California coast, where they made fabulous fish tacos. We cooked some on the beach in Cornwall by the lifeguard hut, and Rudi took Chalky, my Jack Russell, out for a little surfing lesson. Sadly, when back in Australia five years later, Rudi died of cancer and I always thought that one day I’d get to Ensenada and find the tacos.
Ingredients
| 12 x 15cm | corn tortillas |
| 600g | cod fillet |
| 100g | plain flour, seasoned with a pinch of salt and 6 turns black peppermill |
| 1 ltr | corn or vegetable oil |
| For the batter: | |
| 200g | plain flour |
| ¼ tsp | salt |
| ½ tsp | baking powder |
| 275ml | ice-cold beer |
| For the toppings: | |
| ¼ | small white cabbage, finely shredded |
| 1 | avocado, stoned, peeled and diced |
| Hot chilli sauce, such as Cholula or Huichol | |
| For the chipotle crema: | |
| 2 | Chipotles en adobo |
| 3 tbsp | mayonnaise |
| 3 tbsp | soured cream |
| Juice of ½ lime | |
| For the pico de gallo salsa: | |
| 2 | large tomatoes, deseeded and finely-diced |
| ½ | onion, finely chopped |
| 1 handful | of coriander, chopped |
| 1 | green serrano or jalapeño chilli, finely chopped |
| ¼ tsp | salt |
| Juice of ½ - 1 lime |
Essential kit
You will need: a balloon whisk.
Method
Warm the tortillas in a dry frying pan, in a microwave or in the oven (page 306). Get your toppings – shredded cabbage, diced avocado, and hot chilli sauce – ready. Mix the ingredients for the crema and set aside.
To make the pico de gallo salsa, mix all the ingredients in a bowl, starting with the juice of half a lime and adding more to taste, if desired.
To make the batter, sift the flour, salt and baking powder into a roomy bowl. Using a balloon whisk, incorporate the beer until you have a smooth batter. Set aside.
Cut the fish into fingers about 1cm thick. Heat the oil in a large pan to 190°C. Dip a few pieces of fish into the seasoned flour, shake off the excess, then dip them into the batter. Fry for 2–2½ minutes until crisp and golden. Repeat until you’ve cooked all the fish, draining each batch briefly on kitchen paper to remove excess oil. Sprinkle lightly with salt.
Serve the fish immediately in warm tortillas, with the toppings on the table for guests to help themselves.
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