Skipjack yum . . .

Thanks Michelle Dong Photograph for making my ugly fish look beautiful!!


One of the things I love about cooking and eating in Saipan is fresh local fish--raw, cooked, keluguen ceviched-- I love it all.  I'm from California, and have been missing  fresh cali-style tacos so fish tacos seemed a perfect choice for my first blog entry. I have been scoping out Mexican ingredients on island for months, in preparation for making good on my promise to some fellow Californians to make them tacos. At long last . . . TACO NIGHT 1.0.

Saturday morning I went to the fish vendors right accross the street from the courthouse on beach road, with cash in hand, ready to make a good taco choice.  I have been hearing that skipjack is a great grilling fish, and there was one about the right size that was caught that morning, so I decided to give it a try.  Ugly looking thing, but delicious.

This fish is pretty tricky to fillet compared with a tuna or salmon because of the hard exo-spiney thing running along the tailside and the size of the spine itself.  You do not have to gut or scale the fish. Using a sharp knife, crack through the spiney part just above the tail. Because the spine is large, I filleted each side of the spine, seperately working the fillet knife from outside in on both sides before seperating the fish completely off the spine from the top of the spine near the head. Cut off the skin with fillet knife and cut out the bones and bloodline, so you end up with four fillets  Save head and spine for stock if you wish.  My knife skills are amateur at best so after I filleted I sliced off the rest of the good head bits, carved out the cheeks and other shavings from near the spine to make a little ceviche. (see ceviche recipe below)

 

Fish Taco Marinade 

garlic finely chopped (about 7-10cloves)

fresh local green chilies finely chopped (about 4)

mild dark chili powder (liberal sprinkle)

ground cumin (liberal sprinkle)

salt

pepper

local lime/lemon/tangerine squeezed (about 3)

olive oil (drizzle)

 

I started out with a five pound fish, and used an amount of the above ingredients that looks about like the picture below.

 

 

Allow to marinate in the referigerator from 20 minutes to about 2 hours, turning to mix it up at least once.

 

Using a fish basket, (I got mine at Ace for between 7 and 8 bucks) grill on high temperature until fish barely looses translucency.  Flake into chunks with your hands or a fork.

 

Skipjack is a mild tastting white fish, with a good amount of fat, soft compared to mahi, but still holds up well on the grill. (sorry no grill pic, the food smelled so good we forgot to take one!)

  

Michelle Dong Photography

  

Serve with homemade tortillas (or buy stale ones imported from Cali if you must) warmed on the grill and your favorite Mexican condiments!

 

Michelle Dong Photography

fish taco foreground, carne asada background.
Shout out to Elhaje for Tinian spicy black and pinto mix slow-cooked beans.

 

 --Enjoy --

 

Skipjack Ceviche

 

I ended up with about 4-5 ounces of fishscrap pieces after filleting and made a little appetizer with it.

 

1. remove any bone or bloodline and cut any larger scraps to bitesize.
2. in a cup/bowl/tupperware add enough local lime/lemon juice to cover (about 2 for 4 oz fish)
3. add chopped fresh chili, green, red whatever to taste(I used long skinny green ones)
4. minced red onion
5. tapatio or other Mexican hotsauce to taste
6. chopped cilatro, or basil
7. salt to taste
8. cover and refrigerate 30 minutes
9. serve alone or with tortilla chips

No taco dinner is complete without copious quantities of margeritas!! Shout out to Guidotti for mad shaker skills!

 

Michelle Dong Photography