Baja Fish Taco Salad with Chili Tartar Sauce
This Baja Fish Taco Salad features a crisp beer-battered cod fillet served on a bed of romaine and shaved fennel dressed in a chili tartar sauce.
Equipment
- Large dutch oven
- Candy Thermometer
Ingredients
Chili Tartar Sauce
- 1 large dill pickle minced
- 1 clove garlic minced
- ⅓ cup Greek yogurt or sour cream
- 3 tbsp mayo
- 1½ tsp chili powder I used chipotle chili powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp lime juice
- 1 tsp honey
Baja Fish Taco Salad
- 2 heads romaine** coarsely chopped, washed and dried
- ½ bulb fennel shaved with a mandoline
- 3 radishes shaved with a mandoline
- 2 oranges segmented
- 1 cup grape tomatoes halved
- 2-3 jalapeños thinly sliced
- 1 avocado sliced
- 4-6 cups neutral oil for frying
- 2 large cod fillets
- 1¼ cup all-purpose flour divided
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 2 tbsp lime zest
- 1¼ cups cold beer I used Modello
Instructions
For the Tartar Sauce
- Place all of the sauce ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
For the Fish Taco Salad
- When making this salad, it's best to prep all your veggies before preparing the fish. Place the romaine and fennel in a large bowl and set the bowl aside. Place all the remaining veggies on a plate and set them aside as well.
- Once the veggies and dressing are taken care of, you can start tackling the fish. Start by heating up the oil. Pouring the neutral oil into a large dutch oven. Place it over high heat and pop a candy thermometer in there. We’re aiming for 350°F. ***
- Pat two large cod fillets dry with a paper towel. Season with salt and set aside. In a wide, shallow vessel, whisk to combine a 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour and a 1/4 cup of cornstarch. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk to combine 1 cup of all-purpose flour, 1 tsp of baking powder, and lime zest. Slowly stir in the beer until incorporated with some lumps remaining.
- Roll the cod fillets in the flour, cornstarch mix before dipping them in the beer batter and dropping them in the hot oil. Fry for about 8 minutes, adjusting the temperature under the oil to keep it hovering around 350°F. Once the fish is golden, transfer the fillets to a cooling rack suspended over a baking sheet. Sprinkle immediately with salt and let cool slightly.
- Working quickly, place the romaine and fennel in a large bowl. Add the dressing and toss to coat. Pile the salad into four bowls and top with your desired toppings. Divide fish fillets in half and place one half on top of each salad and garnish with lime. Serve immediately.
Notes
** The first thing I do for this recipe is prep my romaine, so I can give it as much time as possible to dry.
***I like to start heating up my oil at this point because it takes some time. If you reach the target temperature prematurely, back the heat off or turn it off completely. You want the oil to be ready for the fish the moment you dip it in the batter and you also don’t want the batter to hang out too long before being used.