Not Shae's Fish Tacos

For hands of gold are cold, but a woman's hands are always warm ...

Not Shae's Fish Tacos

Ingredients

Slaw

1/4 head red cabbage, sliced very thin and cut in half

1 small onion, diced

1 tbsp dry cilantro

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp olive oil

Fish

1 lb whitefish (I used haddock, I think), thawed if you use frozen fish

1/3 cup cornmeal

1 tsp garlic  powder

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp chili powder

Vegetable oil for frying the fish

Serve with

4 flour tortillas

Salsa (we use medium hot)

Guacamole (just try to find fresh avocados worth eating in Massachusetts in winter, I dare you)

Instructions

1. In a small mixing bowl, combine all slaw ingredients. Set aside.

--- Note: The longer the slaw sits, the better it wilts. I recommend letting it sit at least 10 minutes

2. Pat the fish dry and cut it into 3/4-1" pieces.

3. In a cereal bowl, combine cornmeal, garlic powder, cumin, and chili powder.

4. In a skillet, heat the oil. I use pretty high heat for mine. You won't have to worry about burning the fish - it's not in the pan long enough to burn.

5. Dump a handful of fish into the cereal bowl and toss it around until each piece is thoroughly coated. I think I did about 1/3 of my total fish for each round of this.

6. Add those pieces to the pan and start frying them. They should get 1 minute 30 seconds per side.

7. While the first side is cooking, coat another round of fish. Place them in the pan.

8. About this time, the first set should be ready to turn. I used chopsticks to turn them, but that sucked, so next time I think I'd use a fork like a spatula and just flip 'em.

9. Set a timer for 1 minute 30 seconds. Yes, the second batch will get more cooked because of this, but honestly it doesn't even matter.

10. Cook all of the fish, setting each round on a paper towel to de-grease some.

11. When the fish is all cooked, warm your tortillas. You can do it the authentic Mexican way, or you can put them in the microwave for 7 seconds each. We went with the latter.

12. Serve the fish with a hearty topping of slaw, a respectable amount of salsa, and a ludicrous amount of guacamole IF YOU CAN FIND GOOD AVOCADOS DAMMIT MASSACHUSETTS.

*cough*