Eating better food for less and other tales from a no-moneymoon

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Fish Taco Time

When I think 4th of July, I think fish tacos.

Ok, I totally don't. But I do think of hot weather and beach holidays, and I really can't imagine visiting a beach without some grilled seafood. One of my favorite fish-eating formats is the fish taco. You have your fresh grilled fish, a cool crisp cabbage, some spicy crema, whatever salsa-like mixture you can conjure, smooth avocado and a soft tortilla to deliver this deliciousness to your hungry mouth. Plus, it's a thrifty way to fit in seafood, a healthy way to have lots of flavor, and a relatively fast and easy dinner or lunch. I made these last week before the weekend bbq-ing commenced.


Fish, itself:
2 filets tilapia
olive oil for grill pan
Salt and pepper
Lime
Rub a grill pan with olive oil and get it super hot. I throw a droplet of water on and when it sizzles, it's time for the fish. Grill tilapia sprinkling with salt, pepper and 1/2 juice of one lime. Turn once the edges start to turn white and repeat sprinkling. The fish should flake easily and you will lose some to the grill pan.

Guac-lite: Avocado + lemon juice + salt

Salsa: 2 tomatoes (from our patio!) + cilantro + 1 scallion + lime juice

Buena Faux-Crema

1/4 c. plain yogurt
Juice of half a lemon
1 garlic clove, grated
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika

Cabbage Salad
3 cups shredded green or red cabbage
1 radish, sliced thin
1 carrot, shredded
1 Tablespoon white vinegar
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
Sprinkle of cumin

Mix all ingredients together and set aside.

Low fat tortillas
Ok, so here's where the easy part ends. Even though the thrifter in me knows I'm not saving money, I like to try my hand at making tortillas. I found this Low Fat Tortilla Recipe, and modified it.

1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. white corn flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup warm water
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt


Mix the dry ingredients. In a liquid measuring cup stir the olive oil and water together. 1 Tablespoon at a time add the wet to the dry, stirring to combine. You will find yourself with a very sticky dough. Cover with a damp paper towel and set aside for 20 minutes.

Pull off golf-ball sized chunks of the dough, roll into balls and set on a plate, not touching. Cover with another damp towel and let rest another 10 minutes.

On a very well-floured surface, roll out each ball. Keep the dough moving and definitely keep adding a little flour as you go. Get the tortillas as thin as you can. I'm not going to lie, this is the hard part.

Heat a nonstick pan and add vegetable oil or olive oil. Sacrifice your first tortilla to soak up the grease. Now you're ready to fry the tortillas. Just add rolled out rounds to the pan and when they start to look un-dough like on the bottom, flip them. These move quickly and you don't want them to cook too much because you want *soft* tacos and they can become stiff. The whole roll and fry process takes me about 30 minutes. I usually finish it up as I'm grilling the fish and I make the sides before I get my hands doughy.

Put it all together and there you have it: summer in a soft tortilla.

Ready for mas? You'll have some tortillas left over. Save them and leftover "fixings" for an easy brunch:


Scramble eggs with scallions + tortilla + avocado + spicy crema + tomato + extra scallion

2 comments:

  1. Oh, fish tacos are one of my favorites ! Brilliant idea to keep lefovers for brunch !

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks!! I love me some leftovers :)

    ReplyDelete