Want To Keep Summer Alive Just A Bit Longer?
Sure, we all do, don’t we?
As a healthy summer season of eating comes to an end, I wanted to go out on a delicious high note, and so when I dug into my stack of cookbooks, one popped right up:
I try to stay focused on all of the terrific “sustainable seafood” we have access to, and the cookbook “Fish Forever” gives insight, information and deliciously entertaining recipes – like this:
“Tilapia Tacos With Shredded Cabbage And Red Chile Salsa!”
It All Begins With The Salsa…
One reason I loved this recipe was it had a fresh salsa that promised to make the fish tacos “pop”! I don’t make salsa nearly enough, so this “Red Chile” version sounded like a great place to break in!
First up, the recipe called for roasted California Chiles – but I don’t do that heat, so for you spice lovers, add 3 diced Chiles here to a frying pan – you can roast them first in the oven as well – but I started by putting 6 chopped garlic cloves in a pan with olive oil and one chopped onion until brown and soft, about five minutes.
I then added one diced tomato and some orange rind and blended it all together for a few more minutes…
Now that the Salsa was resting, it was time to make some cabbage slaw:
This is very straightforward: shred two cups of cabbage into a bowl, and add a quarter cup of cilantro and the juice of 2 limes…
All you have to do is set this aside at this point once mixed…you can add salt and pepper, but I’m holding off until I get a sense of how all of these flavors play together at the end…
Time To Fry Some Fish!
The recipe called for Catfish, but I found Tilapia instead – to me the best fish taco is one with juicy chunks of fish, the meatier the fish the better…
You mix 1/2 cup of white flour with 1/2 cup cornmeal, a nice mix that gives a bit of extra “hold” to the fish, without using an egg wash…and this doesn’t have to be unhealthy…I fry my fish in olive oil!
3-4 minutes per side is all it takes, and now comes the fun part: building the perfect fried fish taco!
I put a soft corn tortilla shell in a ramekin so it would hold its shape as I put a piece of fish in, then added the slaw mixture:
Because I didn’t add chiles, I put some olive zest and salt into a bowl of Sour Cream – just add your nicely flavored sour cream and the special zesty salsa you made, and here’s what you have:
This is an easy delicious recipe, enhanced greatly by the cabbage slaw and zesty salsa! Here’s my last test:
This was delicious! The salsa packed a nice pop and I love sour cream, but the star should be, and was, the fish! Delicate but meaty enough to handle the salsa…this dish just tasted like summer!
There you have it: a delicious, easy recipe to keep summer alive for a little bit longer!
A fish taco is a classic dish to me: while easy to make, tough to beat the flavor…you know what another easy classic fish dish is?
Plaki!
This greek fish dish is easy to make as well – and has multiple layers of flavor…see the recipe I made for the BKD Cookbook Club here!
As part of my cooking journey, I’ve tried to explore all sorts of different fish recipes:
Like this Halibut dish that I love! See this recipe here:
Finally, Alex and I have begun to eat more swordfish as well and you can see a recipe from our friend Patricia Wells here!
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Categories: Bite Eat Swallow, Bite! Eat! Repeat!, Cookbooks, Eat This!, Food, Food Writing, Recipes, Wacky Food, World's Wildest Food
Bite! Eat! Repeat! 
I’ve not heard of this author, but those fish tacos look fabulous!!!
One of my favorite dishes John! Although it’s a bit cooler today, we’ve had 80-degree heat the last two days, so I’m still in summer.
We hit 80 yesterday in New York and close to it today…60’s return soon
That salsa looks so good. I might put a small chilli in it but just one.
Yes, a Chile would be great…Im not a heat fan but smoky paprika would also help it pop too, thanks for reading!
Oh John ! I did say ‘pretty please’ looking at you making that taco . . . you could have reached a bit of it out thru’ the screen, huh 🙂 ? Seriously inviting – thanks . . . I’m alright with the chillies in moderation also . . .
I love fish tacos and throw in that spicy sauce!