Fish Tacos

I’d wanted to make fish tacos for a long time and I got me some hard shell corn tacos for the purpose and just didn’t get around to it. Then I found some fabulous avocado (gotta have the avocado for this) and decided to skip any shredded lettuce or slaw to make it easier to put together. Our son Dov visits us regularly and I like to try new recipes out on him since he’s a willing guinea pig and appreciates good food. Despite getting home late-ish, I managed to throw this together pretty quickly and it’s so good that it’s worth the messy eating. Serve with a ton of napkins, or just say the heck with it and hand out paper towels. Abso delish!

So gather your ingredients:

And preheat your oven to 375 F/190 C.

Take a rimmed baking sheet and place parchment paper on it and lay the fish on the pan.

As you can see above from the fish slightly glistening, I’ve sprayed them with the oil. No need to do on both sides, one side is sufficient.

Now take the spices, the garlic and onion powder, the paprika, salt and cumin and shake right onto the fish evenly on top.

I don’t bother to mix the spice in a bowl, just shake ’em right on there. Then lightly spray again with the oil to set the spices. Pop into the preheated oven and bake for 22-25 minutes or until the fish is cooked through. It may not fully brown which is fine (as long as it’s cooked) since you will smother it in all kindsa goodies. K.

While your fish bakes, prepare the mango salsa and the topping.

First coarsely chop your parsley and finely dice the cucumber

also note the grated lemon peel in the back there. Get it all ready and scrape into a medium bowl, saving a teaspoon of peel for the topping. Also juice the lemon and save about 2-3 teaspoons for the topping. Pour the rest into the bowl of the salsa.

Add the corn kernels, the mango (drain it if it’s frozen) the honey and salt. This time I used dried minced onion but you can use fresh, of course.

Stir, stir, stir. Let sit and marinate a bit. K. On to the topping!

Place the sour cream and mayo together in a small bowl (the texture will be off if you skip one or the other, so really, don’t) together with the remaining lemon juice and grated peel, the garlic, salt and cayenne pepper. Don’t like it hot? You can skip the cayenne, but a pinch is really nice, just sayin’.

I added the mayo after, in case you’re worried. Last but not least, peel and chunk your avocado. So by now, you’ve let the mango corn concoction sit as well as the topping and your fish should be coming out of the oven any second. Get your tacos ready to roll. By the way, I deliberately went with hard taco shells for that lovely crunch together with the soft fish and the nice bite of the salsa and topping. BUT if you only have soft tortillas, you can switch it out. I won’t be mad, I promise. It’ll go well but I like this better. Set out the lot to let people make their own, or do it for them. I made little taco “holders” by bending some tin foil into shape but no matter what, it’s a messy and delicious bite.

And Dov said, Ema (Mom), this is incredible, but my most critical taster (DH of course) said, hmm, I see we have enough ingredients left over, can we have this for tomorrow night as well? Wowza, extra great compliment, there you go!

Fish Tacos (in Hard Shell Corn Tacos)

5-6 tilapia fillets 

1 teaspoon each: granulated garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, salt, cumin

spray oil

Hard shell corn tacos

Mango Salsa with Corn

1 cup mango chunks, fresh or frozen (If frozen, drain well)

1 cucumber with peel, diced finely

1 cup corn kernels, (approx. 180 grams) fresh or canned (drained)

1/4 cup finely chopped onion or 2 teaspoons dried minced onion

1/3 cup coarsely chopped parsley

1 tablespoon runny honey

Grated peel of one medium lemon and its juice – you will save some of each for the topping

1/2 -1 teaspoon salt to taste

1 avocado peeled and chunked (not part of the salsa, layered on top)

Topping

1/2 cup (100-113 grams) sour cream

1/4 cup (57 grams) mayonnaise

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1 teaspoon lemon peel

1 teaspoon crushed garlic or 1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 – 1/2  teaspoon salt

Pinch of cayenne pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 F/190 C. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Spray fish with oil on top and sprinkle with garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, salt and cumin. Bake about 22-25 minutes or till fish is cooked through. It will get a nice color but may not fully brown. Remove from oven and let rest.

While fish is cooking, mix together all ingredients for salsa, the mango, corn, cucumber, onion, parsley, honey, lemon juice and peel (remember to save a bit for the topping) and salt in a medium bowl till combined. Set aside to marinate.

In a separate small bowl, mix together the sour cream, mayonnaise, lemon juice and peel, garlic, salt and cayenne pepper. Stir together well and let sit.

When fish is cooked through, let rest about 5 minutes and then assemble. (Alternatively, let fish cool and combine when ready to eat, refrigerating ingredients). Take a taco and layer a piece of the fish, the mango salsa, the chunks of avocado and drizzle with the sour cream topping.