Fish Tacos

I’m FOREVER looking for ways to use up the corn tortillas in my fridge.  Not that I don’t love them or NEED to get rid of them, it’s just that I have a lot of them!  I feel like I’ve been eating a lot of crap recently so I’ve been hoping to get  a bit more veggie and fish-based in my cooking.  I don’t have an amazing fish taco recipe that I love so I figured I’d take it to Epicurious to begin my search.

My issue with fish tacos is that I never know if I want grilled fish or deep fried fish. Oh who am I kidding? I ALWAYS want deep fried. But for home cooking I usually avoid deep frying so I decided to go with this recipe from Epicurious. What intrigued me about this recipe was the idea of marinated onions!  So simple to do but add such a kick.  Sign.Me.Up.

These tacos were pure love.  I decided to step things up and make my own salsa (I don’t love most jarred salsas) and used haddock or halibut (I always get those two mixed up) as my fish of choice.  I didn’t have ancho chile powder so I just used regular chile powder.  Everything else remained the same.  These were totally fresh and tasty.  The fish didn’t absorb a ton of flavour from the marinade (I was rushing) but there was a good level of spiciness happening.

I served these with some oven roasted corn and had a fab meal.  These would be equally good with some cilantro/corn rice or something equally delish.

These are going into regular rotation.

Fish Tacos

1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
About 1 1/2 cups red wine vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons ancho chile powder
1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 cup lightly packed fresh cilantro leaves, chopped, plus more for garnish
1 jalapeño, stemmed and chopped
1 pound flaky white fish (such as mahi mahi or cod), cut into 4 pieces
Salt
8 fresh corn tortillas
Mexican crema, homemade or store-bought
Fresh Tomato Salsa
2 limes, cut into quarters

Marinate the Onion
Put the onion in a small bowl and pour in enough red wine vinegar to cover well. Set aside for at least 30 minutes or up to several weeks.

Marinate the Fish
Pour the olive oil into a small bowl and add the ancho chile powder, oregano, cumin, chopped cilantro, and jalapeño. Mix well. Place the fish on a dish and pour the marinade over it, making sure to coat the fish well on both sides. Allow to marinate for 20 minutes.

Cook the Fish
Heat a nonstick sauté pan over medium-high heat. Remove the fish from the marinade and place in the hot pan (there is no need to add more oil). Season the fish with salt. Cook the fish for 4 minutes undisturbed, then turn over, and cook for another 2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and flake the fish into the pan with a fork, making sure to mix in all the marinade that has stuck to the bottom of the pan. Check for seasoning and add more salt if necessary. Set aside.

Heat the Tortillas
Place four of the tortillas on a plate and sandwich them between two slightly dampened sheets of paper towel. Microwave on high for 45 seconds. Place the warm tortillas in a towel-lined basket or plate and cover. Repeat with the remaining tortillas.

Assemble and Serve
To assemble the tacos, place a heaping spoonful of the marinated flaked fish onto the center of a tortilla. Top with the marinated onions. Serve accompanied by Mexican crema and salsa.

Garnish with lime wedges and cilantro sprigs.

COOKING NOTES

INGREDIENTS
Fish
You can use any fish you like so long as you can flake the flesh when it is cooked. Most white fish fall under this category.

TECHNIQUES
Marinated Onions
Once you make this very simple condiment, you will find yourself keeping a container of these onions in your refrigerator to add to all of your dishes.
Don’t be alarmed by the amount of vinegar needed to cover the onions completely. Since you will most likely have onions leftover, keep them submerged in the vinegar in a refrigerated airtight container. You can then use the vinegar for your other cooking needs. The onions will keep for several weeks.

ADVANCE PREPARATION
The onions and fish can be made up to a day in advance. When reheating the fish, you may want to add about 1 tablespoon of water to make sure the fish does not dry out.
Simply Mexican
Copyrighth © 2009 by Lourdes Castro
May 2009
by Lourdes Castro