I remember the first time we heard about fish tacos. My wife and I thought, yuck, that doesn’t sound good at all! So I didn’t even think to try one for quite a while. But then we moved to San Diego, where due to the proximity to Baja California, they are quite popular. Since we now lived in “America’s Finest City” where fish tacos were a staple, we thought we should at least try them. For our surprise, we were immediately hooked! I later found out that there were many variations of these delicacies. The most common tacos were filled with a fish fillet or stick, but there were many other varieties, some of which even included shrimp and lobster. Now, who could turn down a taco stuffed with succulent lobster meat?
As I was trying out a few of the different varieties, my gears started turning. Since I have always loved cooking and trying new recipes, I was sure I would be able to figure out how to make these treats and serve them to the family. While I don’t mind spending some time in the kitchen preparing a big meal, with nine kids it’s often important to try to have something quick and easy up your sleeve. So after trying various tacos, I came up with a fairly quick and easy version of my own.
Components of my sweets
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First, you need tortillas.. These should be corn if you want to be traditional. I’ve had fish tacos in flour tortillas and while they were good, they just didn’t taste that good.
Second, you need some fish.. Usually a fish fillet of some kind will suffice. A purist would say that he needs to get a fresh fish fillet and grill, bake or fry it. I usually only make fish fillets or fish sticks from my local grocery store as it makes prep time so much faster.
Third, there is the sauce.. There are many variations, but I came up with a quick and easy sauce that uses mayonnaise and ketchup as a base.
Lastly, you need shredded cabbage and some limes.. Some use other items to “dress” their taco, but cabbage seems to be the most common. If you like, you can shred some carrots with the cabbage.
So, here are your ingredients.…
Base
12 corn tortillas
12 Fillets/Fish Sticks
Dip
2 cups of mayonnaise
1/2 cup of tomato sauce
1/2 bunch cilantro (add more if you like cilantro)
1 tablespoon garlic powder (Alternatively, use garlic granules or freshly minced garlic)
1 medium lime
Addition
1/2 head of cabbage
fresh lime slices
And so you will prepare it…
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First, make the sauce.. I usually use a food processor to blend the sauce, but you could easily do this by hand. Put the cilantro in the food processor and chop. Then put the mayonnaise, ketchup, garlic powder and the juice of one lemon in the food processor and blend. Remove the sauce to a suitable size bowl and place in the refrigerator.
Next, shred the cabbage.. You can clean out the food processor first or just mash it over the leftover sauce..Plus, it’s going to mix into the sauce anyway. Put the shredded cabbage in the refrigerator.
Then cook the fish. either baked, fried or grilled.
Lastly, heat the tortillas.. You can do this traditionally by cooking them in a pan with a little oil OR just placing them in the microwave.Of course, you could heat the tortillas and cook the fish at the same time to speed up the process.
We’re getting to the good part now… now you can build the taco and then you can enjoy.
construction
Arrange the fish, tortillas, salsa, cabbage, and limes on a counter. Usually due to the size of our family we let everyone build their own as there are so many ways to do it…some like to put the sauce on first, others like to put it on top. It’s really just a matter of preference.
I digress, basically, put a flat tortilla on a plate, put the fish on top, followed by the sauce, and then the salad. Some people also like to add pico de gallo or salsa. The last step in building the taco is to drizzle some juice from a lemon wedge on top, this adds a lot to the overall flavor.
After your taco is ready, just sit back and enjoy. We served these fish tacos at our oldest daughter’s wedding rehearsal dinner. Although the guests were hesitant to try them at first, we soon won them over and some even asked us for the recipe. Try these tacos and you won’t be disappointed. Us always find that only one of these Delicacies from Baja California it’s just not enough!
Enjoy!