Gonna indulge in another passion of mine… making up recipes. Want to make some killer homemade fish tacos? Don't knock them till ya try them; if you've never had a fish taco, it's a great treat, not fishy at all.
Read on…
You’ll need…
4-6 decent-sized pickled green jalapenos, seeded, de-veined, etc., chopped fine
3-4 Roma tomatoes, remove the guts and chopped fine
1 small-medium sweet onion, peeled, chopped fine
1 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped fine, remove as many of the stems as you can, but you can leave a lot of stems in there
Juice from 1 lemon or a couple limes, or combo of both
Salt and pepper to taste
Sour cream
Olive oil
At least a couple white fish filets (like tilapia (what I used), mahi mahi, cod, roughy, etc.)
1 egg, beaten (start with just one at a time, it doesn’t take much)
Bread crumbs (if you don’t have pre-made kind, make your own)
Corn tortillas (probably 4-6 for 2 fish fillets, depends on size of fillets)
Cabbage or lettuce, shredded fine
Shredded cheese (I used the pre-shredded taco cheese blend, but just cheddar or just Monterey Jack or a combo of those would be fine too)
Here’s what you do… it takes a few minutes but worth all those messy dishes too:
For the salsa, mix the jalapenos, tomatoes, onion, cilantro, and lemon/lime juice. Add whatever salt and pepper you wish here. Set aside for a while, you need the flavors to bloom a bit. You won’t need the sour cream till later, leave it in the fridge for now.
In a big pan with a lid, put a little olive oil (maybe 1/8” to 1/4” deep in a pan), soften the corn tortillas so you can fold them in half – either continue to fry them till they’re crispy, or remove to paper-towel-lined plate and let them cool a tad. Yes, I said tad, hehehe, isn’t that a cooking term? I like them crispy, then after they’re cooled a tad (there’s that word again, it’s just up from a smidge and down from a lot) I split them open and lay them flat on a plate but some people like them just softened – your preference there.
Cut the fish fillets in half if they’re really wide and thick, they’ll cook more evenly. Besides, it doesn’t take but a small piece (about four inches long) for a corn tortilla, and you don’t want them too wide so cut them down to what you want first. Muck them around in the beaten egg then roll them through the bread crumbs – I like to do that step twice so they’re double-coated, woohoo! Fry them gently for a few minutes each side in the olive oil. Watch it, don’t overcook them, there’s nothing worse than overcooked fish. Ewwww. Helps to have the oil not so hot, either. Otherwise you’ll have a splattery mess on the stovetop. A lid helps steam and evenly cook the fish - you can flip them after a minute, they should be done very quickly, test with a fork in the thickest spots..
If you have a cat herd like I do, this is the point where you’ll have to sacrifice a small piece of the fish to each cat. Fortunately only 2 of mine are actual kitchen beggars, but they all smelled the fish and just had to join in the melee when they heard the 2 sobbing pitifully.
After you do the required sacrifice of the small fish tidbits and shoo the cats out of the kitchen for the eleventh time, and while the fish for YOU is gently cooking (keep an eye on it), take out the sour cream from the fridge and get another bowl. Put a couple big spoonfuls of sour cream in it, then a couple big spoonfuls of that salsa mess that’s been sitting and blooming. Only mix as much sour cream and salsa mess as you want to eat just then – the rest of the salsa mess can be refrigerated for days but you don’t wanna have it mixed with sour cream while it sits like that, it’ll get ooky. Yes, ooky’s a cooking term too. Just up a smidge up from grodie and down a tad from icky.
The fish should be done about now, take them out of the oil if they are. Fish frying requires lots of monitoring, don’t let that part get away from you so keep an eye on the fish tidbits in the oil.
Get the cheese out and brace yourself… assembly time coming up.
On a clean plate (You don’t think I’d actually say “on a dirty plate” did you? HA!), layer a tortilla with a spoonful of the salsa/sour cream mix, then plop a piece or two of the fish on top of that, add a little cabbage/lettuce shreds, and then sprinkle on some cheese.
Make a second one if you think you have room for it. Go eat before the fish cools off, it’s tasty. Works really well with grilled mahi mahi too, but I didn't have the impetus to grill the tilapia today so they were olive-oil lightly breaded and pan-fried. Mmm... mmmm... mmmmm...
Guess what I had for lunch? LOL!
Enjoy!
