Alvarado Day-After Fish Tacos (Tacos de Minilla)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Wide terracotta cazuela or heavy 12-inch skillet
• •Cast iron comal for warming tortillas
• •Fork for flaking the fish
• •Slotted spoon

Instructions

1. 1

   Poach and flake the fish

   Fill a wide pot with enough water to cover the fish. Add the half onion, two garlic cloves, one bay leaf, and the salt. Bring to a bare simmer, never a boil. Slide in the fillets and poach gently for 8 to 10 minutes, until the fish turns opaque and flakes at the touch of a fork. Lift it out, let it cool, then flake it with your fingers and pull out every last bone and bit of skin. If you are working with yesterday's cooked fish, the way Alvarado intended, skip straight to the sofrito. You already have what you need.

   Do not let the water boil. Boiling toughens the fish and clouds the flavor. A lazy simmer keeps it tender. Save a cup of the poaching liquid to loosen the hash later if it tightens too much.
2. 2

   Start the sofrito

   Warm the olive oil in a wide terracotta cazuela or heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the chopped onion with a pinch of salt and cook until soft and translucent, about 8 minutes. Do not let it brown. You want it sweet, not toasted. Add the minced garlic and cook one minute more, just until it turns fragrant. On this coast the fat is aceite de oliva, not manteca. That is the Spanish hand, and it starts here.

   Use a real Spanish olive oil. The Mediterranean note is half the reason minilla tastes like Alvarado and not like anywhere else.
3. 3

   Cook down the tomato

   Add the chopped tomato. Cook over medium heat, stirring now and then, until the tomato collapses, darkens to a deep brick red, and the oil starts to pool at the edges of the pan, 15 to 20 minutes. This is the heart of the dish. Rush it and the minilla tastes raw and watery. Let it cook until it looks like a jam, not a sauce. You will know it is ready when a spoon dragged across the bottom leaves a clean trail for a second.

4. 4

   Add the Spanish pantry

   Stir in the olives, capers, pickled jalapeños with their brine, raisins, almonds, bay leaves, thyme, and marjoram. This is where the dish announces where it comes from. Salt, brine, a little sweet, and a thread of heat all at once. Simmer for 5 minutes so the flavors marry before the fish goes in.

   The raisins and almonds are the old Spanish hand. You can leave them out and still have minilla. Leave out the olive or the caper and you have something else.
5. 5

   Fold in the fish

   Add the flaked fish and fold it through gently. You are binding it, not mashing it. Lower the heat and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, until the fish drinks up the tomato and the mixture holds together when you drag a spoon across the pan. If it looks dry, add a splash of the poaching liquid. Stir in the chopped parsley at the end. Perejil, not cilantro. The Spanish hand again. Taste for salt and black pepper now, while you can still fix it.

6. 6

   Let it rest

   Here is the part most recipes skip. Pull the pan off the heat and let the minilla rest, ideally until the next day. This is the day-after dish for a reason. The tomato, the olive, and the chile need a night in the refrigerator to settle into the fish. Eaten straight from the pan it is good. Eaten the next day it is right. Así se hace y punto.

7. 7

   Warm the tortillas and build the tacos

   Warm the corn tortillas on a dry comal until soft and pliable, with a few toasted spots at the edges. Rewarm the minilla gently if it has been chilled. Spoon a line of it down the center of each tortilla, roll it, and serve. Lime on the side, avocado if you have it, a few extra pickled jalapeños for the ones who want more heat. Put a pot of frijoles negros alongside. Black beans, not pinto. This is the Gulf, not the north.

Chef Tips

• •Sierra is the Alvarado fish for minilla, oily enough to stand up to the tomato and olive. Robalo or any firm white fish works too. Buy it whole or filleted from a fishmonger who lets you smell it first. It should smell like clean seawater and nothing else. Si no conoces el mercado, no conoces la cocina.
• •This dish was invented for leftovers. If you poached or fried fish yesterday, you are already halfway done. Do not overcook fresh fish for minilla. It cooks again in the sofrito, and dry fish makes a dry hash.
• •Use a real Spanish olive oil here, not the highland's lard. On the Veracruz coast the fat is aceite de oliva, and that Mediterranean note is what makes minilla taste like Alvarado. La manteca no manda aquí.
• •Some cooks add a chopped chipotle en adobo for a thread of smoke. It is not in every house, but it belongs to Veracruz. Add one if you want it darker.
• •Minilla is more than a taco filling. Spoon it onto a tostada, fold it into an empanada, or stuff it into a flour-dusted bolillo for a torta the way they do at the stands on the malecón.

Advance Preparation

• •Minilla is built to be made ahead. It improves overnight as the tomato, olive, and chile settle into the fish. Make it a full day before you plan to serve and rewarm gently.
• •It keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated and only gets better for the first two. Keep it in a covered glass or clay container, not metal, so the acidity of the tomato and brine stays clean.
• •It freezes for up to a month, though the texture of the fish softens. Thaw in the refrigerator and rewarm slowly over low heat.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 400g)