comment icon 102 more comments Welcome. Stay in our lives forever. We ❤ u. Especially us lonely winterers here in Minnesota who have not seen the out of doors for billions of days. Yesterday it was blisteringly hot out there (meaning 80 degrees here in M-N) and I was in summer sun patio heaven. I positioned my chair to face directly into the sun, right next to my newly purchased basil plant from the farmer’s market, and together we soaked up the hottness while I ate a little snack and it felt guuud. Then I panicked about all that sun on my basil and dumped my water bottle all over it to cool it down. Does basil love water bottle showers? Or does it need sun? The leaves are starting to look weird and my black thumb is feeling guilty. Halp. I’m sorry not sorry to say that my favorite summertime foods = things like beer-battered fried fish tacos (hey! that’s today), corn dogs, mini donuts, French fries, onion rings, and the like. I know. I’m a horrible person and why can’t I just grill something? True story – I tried to grill something last week so I could be a Fresh Healthy Summer Blog Person and guess what? It was not delicious. I couldn’t blog about it in a million years and it made a mess, like, all over our yard. I’ll try again next year. When I think of summer food, I think of eating outside and that makes me think of things like the State Fair and outdoor concerts and festivals and amusement parks. And as long as we’re on that topic, I am declaring today that I have officially reached the age of never going on any roller coasters ever again. No more. It’s time to just embrace the fact that my ride spirit is either non-existent or prefers rides meant for 3-5 year olds. My food spirit, however, embraces the so-bad-but-so-good food at said amusement parks and so no worries – we’ll go, you’ll ride, I’ll eat, and we can all still get along. Today’s recipe is some kind of mashup between that yummy fried food of summer outdoor events and the good feeling of making a fun summer meal yourself, at home, with a freshy umbrella drink if you’re cutesy and have a perfect life. The fish in these tacos is crispy and delicious » CRISPY FISH TACOS. It’s crispy because it’s beer-battered with a few unique ingredients that give it extra crunch, like cornmeal. Crispity-crunch, that shooore tastes goooood. It turns a nice golden brown, and I know I just said this in a post recently but it’s worth repeating: truly that golden brown is the best food color. I love it. I kept the toppings pretty simple for these tacos because I embrace minimalism and simplicity and zen-ness all the time. And/or/also, I didn’t want to go to the grocery store for any more ingredients when my fridge is overflowing with stuffs. That’s zen, right? It ended up being perfect. The zingy spiciness of the sauce, along with its cool creaminess, had the perfect well-rounded balancing effect to the spicy, golden brown, crispy cornmeal beer-battered fish. A little Cotija cheese crumbled on top gave a little texture and saltiness, and those few little cilantro leaves added a fresh-green-pop look that tied it all together. So this weekend was this –> I ate a few yummy tacos at home, sat in the sun with the basil plant, and then went out with friends where I sat on a rooftop deck and watched the sunset and felt very happy. These good feelings brought to you by summa summa summmmaaah. 4.8 from 23 reviews About the batter: If the batter sits for a while, the cornmeal will sink to the bottom. Stir it up again to get everything mixed before dipping the fish in it.
