I think it’s this way with many married folk: the spouse isn’t home for dinner and, well, that’s when you eat at the restaurant she hates or perhaps just have Cheerios for dinner. When feeling industrious, I sometimes invent and if it works out, then perhaps I’ll make it for my wife one day. Usually, though, I wind up microwaving some cheese on a couple of tortillas, rolling them up and eating them in between handfulls of peanuts.
I never said I was fancy.
Tonight, as my wife slogs through her MBA program as she does every Tuesday, I found myself feeling adventurous as I inspected the contents of the fridge looking for something different. I really wanted fish tacos, and as fate would have it there were a couple of filets of sole in there. Now, I know sole isn’t exactly a fish taco kind of fish and baking it wrapped in tin foil isn’t really the preferred fish taco cooking method, but it’s easy and that’s the point.
I started off by buttering a piece of foil and placing the filet inside. Next I thoroughly coated it with chili powder, cayenne pepper and cumin, touched off with a bit of sea salt. Whilst (see how fancy this is making me?) the sole baked, I chopped up some prepackaged baby salad greens, a tomato and some onion. I mixed all the veggies in a nice blue bowl and added some of the Whole Foods brand chipotle ranch dressing.
When the fish was nearly finished cooking (about 8 minutes at 400°F) I added some tortillas to warm. At about 8 minutes, the fish was done and I took it from the foil, placed it on the tortillas with the salad mixture and a few drops of Sgt. Pepper’s Tropical Tears mango habañero salsa.
Served on a yellow plate and paired with a glass of ice cold Austin tap water, it was surprisingly good. I even feel a bit guilty for not inventing it while my wife was at home.
James Brush is a teacher and writer who lives in Austin, TX. He tries to get outside as much as possible.
And I thought I was the only one in the world who eats a “quesadilla” and a handful of peanuts for dinner.
Way to be adventurous!
Fish tacos…mmmm.
Put shredded cabbage in there instead of the baby greens and you could pretend to be in Seattle.
Annie the Garden Blogger
Are fish tacos a new phenomenon or are they something Mexicans/Texans have traditionally eaten?
I’ve been eating them for years, and they’re on the many a menu around here. I suppose they’re probably common anywhere that tortillas and fish are plentiful. And they’re so good.
What kind of fish is “filet of sole”. I cannot find, anymore, frozen “filet of sole”.
Sole is a white fish. Kind of delicate. Filet is just how it’s cut.