What to do on Lenten Fridays

     Well as we approach the 5th week of Lent and pasta with pesto and pizza were getting ho hum I decided to take my mom's old favorite and give it a new twist. Back in the 60's it was potatos and eggs -now called Frittata or fried fish on Fridays. I have to say my mom did a great beer battered fish with lots of lemon drizzled over it-even those who were not fish fanatics couldn't help themselves!  So with that in mind I decided at the last minute to replicate the meal with a 2010 twist. I stopped at my trusty fish guy Eddie to pick up some fresh fish. Whenever I have made fish tacos in the past I have grilled the fish either outside or on my trusty grill pan inside which also does the trick. You need a fairly thick piece of fish or it will get lost in the tacos with all the fixins' on it. Last time he had fresh monk fish which my husband flipped for but this time the cod was fresh and just the right thickness-any white fish will do.
   So for three people I bought a little over a pound-I had already picked up lemons, cilantro, soft taco shells,
fresh organic salsa, and an avocado. Sometimes I shred cabbage and radishes to use as a sort of coleslaw topping but that night I thought Mexican would be the way to go.  It really does not take very long make so if you are in a hurry and hungry this is perfect.
     First I washed the fish and left it to dry as I got the other ingredients ready.  Luckily for me, my daughter was home and she has become a master at making guacamole so that was one less thing to do. She mashed the avocado and added lots of lemon juice, garlic powder and just a little jar-style salsa which adds just enough liquid so it macerates easier. I through togeher a salad with a light vinegrette to have as our side dish. I added corn and fresh red onion to the organic salsa to give it more color and zip.
     At this point I was ready to make the batter for the fish but I came up with a real snag-NO BEER in the house! Oops I thought it was here?! Neither of us wanted to get back in the car so I thought how can I be resourceful to continue with my plan. And then it came to me. I needed the batter to be light and foamy and effervesent-well I had ginger ale that would work but I was not sure that regular old all purpose flour would give a puffy crustly-crust. So I looked in my cabinet a lo and behold I had Presto self-rising cake flour! This has baking powder and salt added to it which would give it the boost and seasoning I needed.  So I used
1 cup of gingerale and 1 cup of the Presto flour which foamed up just like I imagined it would.  I filled  my little Fry Daddy with canola  oil and waited for it to heat up. In the mean time I also preheated the oven for 250 degrees so that I could keep the fish warm during the process.  I salted and peppered the fish on both sides and then cut them into bite size pieces, then rolled them  in the batter until all of the fish was covered.
     One by one I dropped them into the sizzling pot and they turned puffy, brown then crispy-I quickly moved them to brown paper (never use paper towels as that absorbs the grease leaving the fish saturated and limp) then I transferred them on to a large plate and put into the oven after liberally squeezing lemon over the top.
     On the table we lined up the salad, guacamole, and fresh salsa in anticipation for the main dish. NOW for the tacos -usually I just wrap them in a wet paper towel and put in the microwave for 25 seconds but this time I decided to use my panini maker to quick -grill them. So I sprayed them with olive oil spray by Filippo Berio and slightly grilled them just until they were warm.

     Well it all fell into place nicely- using the slightly grilled taco shells, adding the fish, and the toppings, we had a healthful Lenten repast.