{"id":13292,"date":"2021-03-11T07:02:39","date_gmt":"2021-03-11T12:02:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/?p=13292"},"modified":"2021-03-13T07:54:43","modified_gmt":"2021-03-13T12:54:43","slug":"taco-not-tuesday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/?p=13292","title":{"rendered":"Taco Tuesday (Not)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\ud83d\udc68\u200d\ud83c\udf73 Cooking in the Time of COVID \ud83d\udc68\u200d\ud83c\udf73<\/p>\n<p><em>(Click on any image to view it in high resolution.)<\/em><br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_2254-edited-5.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_2254-edited-5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1080\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-13294\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_2254-edited-5.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_2254-edited-5-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_2254-edited-5-1024x768.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_2254-edited-5-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_2254-edited-5-400x300.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nDo you get pandemically induced food cravings too or am I alone in this? For no apparent reason I was jonesing for fish tacos and it wasn\u2019t even the officially sanctioned <em>el martes.<\/em> Besides, it gave me an excuse to break out the comal and make salsa cruda.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s what I did to scratch the itch. There\u2019s nothing aut\u00e9ntico about these, but they were a cinch to prepare. You can use any neutral white filet like tilapia or basa because there\u2019s so much going on in this application that any richly flavorful fish would get lost in the sauce. Literally. I tend to think of tilapia and other entry-level fish as an artist\u2019s canvas: it\u2019s essentially an uninteresting blank medium waiting to be turned into a masterpiece. Or in this case, dinner.<\/p>\n<p>Season (or even marinate) the fish, then bake, grill, or pan sear in a skillet (that\u2019s what I did: easier cleanup), cut into chunks and carefully place them into the taco shell or tortilla of your choice, along with avocado, shredded lettuce (or not), shredded or crumbled cheese (or not), crema (or not), and let the salsa do the heavy flavor lifting.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_2229-edited-3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_2229-edited-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1440\" height=\"1440\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-13295\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_2229-edited-3.jpg 1440w, https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_2229-edited-3-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_2229-edited-3-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_2229-edited-3-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_2229-edited-3-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1440px) 100vw, 1440px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nThe salsa cruda started by charring white onion, tomatillos, tomato, and jalape\u00f1o on a comal \u2013 shown here mid-blister. Previously, I had used it to quickly toast some dried ancho and chipotle chilies then let them soak until rehydrated. When all the chilies are ready, remove any excess seeds and lose the juice from the tomato (it\u2019ll make more). I chopped it all by hand because a blender or food processor creates a thin salsa which is fine but I prefer some crunch. (A molcajete works well too \u2013 see my upcoming post about guacamole, another craving inspired by this dish.) I included chopped cilantro, garlic, lime juice, olive oil, salt, and a pinch of cumin and Mexican oregano.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_2389-L-edited-1440-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_2389-L-edited-1440-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1164\" height=\"1164\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-13296\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_2389-L-edited-1440-2.jpg 1164w, https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_2389-L-edited-1440-2-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_2389-L-edited-1440-2-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_2389-L-edited-1440-2-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/IMG_2389-L-edited-1440-2-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1164px) 100vw, 1164px\" \/><\/a><br \/>\nThe finished product.<\/p>\n<p>Itch scratched. Except for the aforementioned guacamole. <a href=\"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/?p=13313\">Stay tuned.<\/a><br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\nStay safe, be well, and eat whatever it takes. \u2764\ufe0f<br \/>\n&nbsp;<br \/>\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Do you get pandemically induced food cravings too or am I alone in this? Read on&#8230;. <a href=\"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/?p=13292\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3336,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[145,31],"tags":[69],"class_list":["post-13292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cooking-in-the-time-of-covid","category-home-cookin","tag-mexican"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3336"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13292"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13323,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13292\/revisions\/13323"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ethnojunkie.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}