Fish Taco Salad

I’m lucky enough to work near the Gherkin - which means that Thursday (and now Friday!) of every week the Kerb street food stall thingy is held there. *

I don’t always remember to go, or there are other things on, and one of my fast days is quite often Thursday, which meant that until recently I didn’t go much at all (sad face) but I always want to get a fish taco.

So far fate has conspired against me - either there is something else there that I have wanted for even longer (step forward Yum Bun) or either Ambriento or Luardos aren’t there when I am.

So I decided to take matters into my own hands: I would make my own fish tacos dammit! But with a twist, and as summer was in attendance (and yet sadly nearly over), I decided on a fish taco salad. Without the actual taco element.

Here it is.

* EDIT - in fact the evil villains that are the City of London Corporation have now closed Kerb down as apparently it wasn’t pretty enough. Or something. The Gherkin itself apparently didn’t have a problem with it but there you go. Boo! There’s a petition here - please do sign it, street food markets are ace.


Fish Taco Salad

serves 2

For salad
1 bag of crunchy salad (to include shredded cabbage & carrot)
1 tbsp coriander, chopped 
½ avocado, diced
10-12 cherry tomatoes, quartered
¼ onion, finely chopped
juice of ¼ lemon
juice of ¼ lime
sea salt 
1 tbsp pickled green chillis (jalapeno slices) or 1 whole green pickled chilli, chopped
For dressing
4 tbsp greek yogurt
1 tbsp coriander, chopped
juice of ¼ lemon
½ tbsp chipotle paste (or hot sauce to taste)
½ clove garlic, minced
¼ tsp cumin
¼ tsp coriander
salt and pepper to taste

For Mango Salsa
150g mango, diced 
½ green chilli, finely diced
2 tbsp coriander, finely chopped
¼ red onion, finely diced
juice of ¼ lime
salt to taste
For fish
2 river cobbler fillets (or any sustainable white fish)
2 tsp old bay blackened seasoning (optional)
½ tsp cumin
½ tsp coriander
⅛ tsp chili powder
⅛ tsp black pepper
⅛ tsp. salt
⅛ tsp. cayenne pepper
⅛ tsp. garlic powder
1 ½ tsp olive oil
To serve
extra chopped coriander
lime wedges
smoked chipotle tabasco

In a small bowl, mix the spices for the fish then put into a large food bag. Add the fish fillets and toss around to ensure that the fish gets evenly coated with the spices.

Heat a frying pan with the olive oil over a med-high heat, and add the fish: frying on both sides for 3-4 minutes until golden brown and cooked through. It’s fine if they break up as they’ll be broken up for the salad itself.

Remove to a piece of kitchen towel on a plate, squeeze over some lime or lemon juice and set aside to cool a little.

Meanwhile mix the ingredients for the mango salsa in a bowl and set aside.

In a separate bowl, add all the ingredients for the dressing up and stir together.

In a third bowl, from the salad ingredients, mix together the chopped onion, coriander, citrus juices, jalapeno and salt to taste.

Finally, in a large bowl toss the lettuce mix and tomatoes with some of the coriander / onion / jalapeno mix as above. Season carefully to taste.

To serve, divide the lettuce mix between 2 plates: break up the fish fillets and lay on top of the lettuce mix. Top with a dollop of dressing, some avocado, mango salsa and a sprinkling more of the onion / coriander.