Fish Tacos, Asian Slaw, and Green Rice

At our favorite local beer bar, The Pickled Pig Pub, Joe and my favorite appetizer is the fish tacos. I'm not a huge fish eater, but these tacos are the exception. We decided to re-create them at home, and use our CSA produce to create condiments and side dishes. After looking at several recipes, we decided to use pollock. Other choices would have been haddock and cod since they hold up well with frying. To top our tacos we made a Mango-Radish Salsa from our CSA radishes and pico de gallo. We used our CSA Napa cabbage to create an Asian slaw and our CSA Russian kale to create green rice. We used small corn tortillas for our tacos.

Beer Battered Fish


1 lb. pollock (cut into 2 inch pieces)
1/2 c. flour
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 egg
1/2 c. beer

Heat oil in a deep pan. Have about 1/2 inch to an inch of oil in the pan. Peanut oil is the ideal for frying but we used vegetable oil. Have extra flour in a dish. Dust each piece of fish with flour then cover with batter. Put the fish (a few at a time) in the oil and fry for about 3/5 minutes on each side. Try one out first to check your temperatures. When done put the fish on a towel-covered plate and continue until all the fish is fried.

Mango-Radish Salsa
(from Eating Well In Season cookbook)

3 c. diced mango (2 large)
1/4 c. chopped cilantro
1 tbsp. lime juice
1/4 tsp. salt
1 c. diced radishes (about 1 small bunch)

Mix the mango, cilantro, lime juice, and salt in a bowl. Add the radishes just before serving.

Pico de Gallo

12 oz.  fresh ripe tomatoes

1/2 med. onion

3 tbsp. lime juice

1/2 tsp. salt

handful of cilantro

dash of cumin 

salt/pepper

Dice the tomatoes and onion very finely.  Chop the cilantro. Mix all the ingredients 

together. Let it sit for a few minutes before serving so the flavors can meld together.

Asian Slaw with dressing

1/2 tsp. fresh ginger

3 tbsp. rice wine vinegar

1 tbsp. lime juice

1 tbsp. soy sauce

1/2 tsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 c. oil

1/2 tsp. sesame oil

1/2 head of napa cabbage (cleaned and cut in to ribbons)

1/2 carrots (cut in to matchsticks)

Whisk the first 8 ingredients together in a bowl. Toss with the cabbage and carrots. Add scallions and cilantro to taste.

Green Rice 

(from My Father's Daughter cookbook)

1/2 lb. kale (cleaned and cut in to small ribbons)

1 1/2 tbsp. vegetable oil

2 cloves garlic (minced finely)

3 large scallions (chopped)

2 1/2 c. cooked brown rice

1 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. soy sauce

Steam the kale for about 7 minutes. Heat the oil in a large pan over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Raise the heat to medium and add the kale and scallions, cook for about 2 minutes. Add the rice and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the soy sauce and cook for about a minute. Then serve. Make sure to stir the whole time you are adding ingredients to the pan so they do not burn. You can get away with using a bit more soy sauce. 

I have to be honest with you; when Joe and I sat down to eat this meal we high-fived (seriously). We were just so happy with the way everything turned out. The entire meal was light and refreshing. The fish was crispy and the pico de gallo had just the right amount of spice. The mango-radish salsa was the most surprising, as it was very refreshing. The sweet mangoes balanced out the peppery radishes. This would be a perfect meal to create for dinner guests. Everything but the fish can be made ahead of time and guests could build their own tacos based on their own tastes. Joe and I were very proud that everything was made from scratch (except the tortillas) and three out of the five parts of the meal utilized produce from our CSA. Summer dinner parties here we come!