For Christians, Lent is a season of solemn reflection on the trials of Jesus Christ in the desert; its central themes are prayer, fasting and almsgiving. All very noble concepts, if a not a little dour. Lent is also a time to enjoy delicious fried fish on Fridays, all thanks to a longstanding Catholic ban on Friday meat-eating during the season (which may or may not have been a giveaway to fisheries special interests — some things never change).

Martha and I have been taking full advantage of the season: we started with the wonderfully iconic Fish Fry at Saint Albert the Great’s. The very next week, we were off to the Red Stag Supper Club for the restaurant fish fry experience. I go out of my way to avoid talking about restaurants on this blog, so of the Red Stag I will say only this: I have seen the future of fish fries and it is sprayable malt vinegar. That’s right, malt vinegar in atomizers. Everyone should be doing this.

Having done the church and restaurant things, the only venue remaining for our Lenten self-denial was our own home. Part of my motivation was a desire to pay tribute to the recently destroyed Blackbird Café, who for a long time sold a “Fish Fry” on their menu consisting of deep-fried breaded salmon fingers, fries, and tamari-beurre blanc, garnished with a lime and pickled ginger. I have vivid memories of this dish: my burning of the beurre blanc not once but twice occasioned my first severe dressing down in my short time in a professional kitchen (there would be more!). A dish tinged with penance and regret, what better meal for Lent?

Our fish was salmon, which I cut in to strips, salted and peppered, and had Martha take care of the breading, using flour, eggs and breadcrumbs. Martha learned the hard way the importance of strict adherence to a wet-hand, dry-hand regime when breading. All Lenten meals should offer such learning opportunities.

On the side of these salmon fries, I cooked french fries using the usual two-stage method (blanch at 325ºF and finish at 375ºF). Since I had no reason to expect my beurre blanc to turn out any better than it had the first two times, I steered away from it for the sauce, choosing instead my old Turkish friend tarator. Tarator is, after all, a natural accompaniment to fish. To be extra fancy, I sieved the tarator after blending it, making it nice and smooth.

Comparing the home fish-fry experience to that of the church and the supper club, I can say my biggest deficiency at home is the lack of a commercial fryer. Whereas the cooks at the Red Stag can throw a pound of fish or potatoes in the fryer and expect a fluctuation of no more than a few degrees, my addition of that much food to a pathetic gallon of oil drops the temperature by more than 100ºF. And our pitiful little apartment stove just can’t kick out the BTUs to improve the situation very quickly. It doesn’t mean you can’t fry at home, it just means it’s going to take longer. But really, what’s your hurry? It’s Lent; use the extra time to reflect, damnit.

Just don’t spend so much time reflecting that you don’t realize the season’s almost over! In fact, this Friday is the last day to enjoy delicious Lenten fried fish, be it at a church, a restaurant, or at home (Good Friday is a fast day, FYI). Of course you could also fry fish after Easter, but that just wouldn’t be the same, would it?

Summer weather of the unbearable sort finally arrived last weekend to the Twin Cities and left me craving light, fresh flavors. Hence, fish tacos! Here’s the recipe if you are so inclined.

Fish:

• Filet of a fish of your choice; our’s was cod
• Flour
• A few eggs
• 1 cup cornmeal
• A handful of parsley, minced
• Green onion, minced
• 2 T paprika
• 1 t cayenne
• Salt and black pepper
• Oil for frying

Cut the fish into pieces of approximately equal size. What size? That depends on your preference and your fish. I managed to get pretty even 4″x1″x½” pieces. Prepare a breading station: fill one wide, shallow vessel with flour and season with salt and pepper. Prepare another with beaten egg. In a third, place the combination of cornmeal, a 1/2 cup of flour, the parsley, the green onion, the paprika, the cayenne, and a little pepper.

Now you are ready to bread the fish. Observe a strict “wet hand, dry hand” regime: designate which hand is wet hand and which hand is dry hand and don’t deviate from them for a second so help you God. Take your wet hand and pick up a piece or two of fish and drop it in the seasoned flour. Use your dry hand to splash a little flour over the exposed pieces of fish flesh so as to avoid any “wet” contamination. Toss the fish around to make sure it is well-coated in flour, shake off the excess, and deposit it in the egg wash using your dry hand, avoiding getting any egg on said hand. Use your wet hand to coat the fish in egg, and after shaking off the excess drop it in the cornmeal mixture. Use your dry hand to move the fish around (being careful not to get it wet!) in the cornmeal and then put it on a tray. Repeat until all the fish is breaded.

Heat enough oil that the fish pieces can float freely in a high-sided frying pan or dutch oven to 350°F. Add a few pieces of fish at a time to the oil. The fish pieces will float when they are done, although it might be a good idea to allow a little extra time for browning. Remove the fish from the oil with tongs or a slotted spoon on to paper towels and proceed with frying the rest of the fish.

Sour Cream Sauce:

The idea here was kind of to make a Mexican-style tartar sauce but I pretty quickly started just throwing the things I had from the farmers’ market into some sour cream.

• Kernels from one ear of corn, uncooked
• Roma tomato, diced
• Jalapeño, minced
• 1 clove of garlic, minced or pressed through a garlic press
• 1/3 c sour cream
• Milk
• Salt

Mix together the first five ingredients, then use milk to thin the sauce to the consistency you like. For whatever reason, I like thin sour cream (perhaps it mixes better with the other taco ingredients instead of sitting aloof in a pile on top). Add salt until you can taste everything.

This is a perfect place to use any pickled cabbage you have sitting around.

Serve with warm corn tortillas.