Fish Tacos with Apple Cucumber Avocado Salsa
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Recipe type: Entree
Serves: 4-6
Ingredients
  • 2 Tbsp canola oil
  • 2 Tbsp rice vinegar
  • 2 tsp honey
  • ½ cup chopped cilantro
  • 1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped
  • ⅓ cup chopped red onion
  • 1 ripe avocado
  • 1 apple, chopped (I recommend crisp sweet slightly tart apples like Gala, Fuji or Honeycrisp – they won’t brown and will retain their crispness)
  • 1 jalapeno, seeds and membranes removed, chopped finely
  • 12 corn tortillas
  • extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 ½ lbs catfish or firm white fish of your choice
  • 2 tsp granulated garlic (roasted if it’s available)
  • 1 ½ tsp onion powder
  • 1 Tbsp kosher salt
  • 2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 Tbsp lemon pepper
  • 3 Tbsp smoked paprika
  • 1 ½ tsp ground chipotle pepper
  • a dash ground cayenne pepper
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
  • 1 tsp dried tarragon
  • 1 tsp dried basil
Instructions
  1. For the salsa:
  2. To chop the avocado, cut a slit all the way around the avocado from top to bottom down to the pit.
  3. Rotate the two halves formed and they should come apart with the pit in one side.
  4. Tap the pit with the blade of your knife to embed it slightly, then turn the pit releasing it.
  5. Score a crosshatch pattern through the pulp of the 2 avocado halves down to but not through the peel.
  6. Then use a teaspoon scooped against the peel to scoop out your avocado cubes.
  7. Mix the cilantro, cucumber, red onion, avocado, apple and jalapeno in a serving bowl.
  8. Whisk together the canola oil, rice vinegar and honey and pour over the vegetable/fruit mixture. Toss to coat.
  9. For the tortillas:
  10. Heat 1 Tbsp olive oil in a large preferably heavy skillet like cast iron over medium high heat.
  11. Add some tortillas and let them develop some brown spots on the bottom and then flip and brown the other side. Repeat adding a little more oil to the pan as necessary until all tortillas are toasted.
  12. For the fish:
  13. Mix all the spices: granulated garlic through basil in a small bowl.
  14. Sprinkle the spice mixture liberally over the fish and pat it on so it’s well adhered.
  15. Using the same pan you toasted the tortillas in (who wants to do extra dishes?!) heat 1 ½ Tbsp olive oil over medium high heat and lay out the fish fillets in the pan.
  16. Cook several minutes until the spice coating is well browned on the bottoms of the fillets.
  17. Flip them and cook until the other side is browned and the fish is cooked through.
Recipe by Savory Nature at http://savorynature.com/2013/10/28/fish-tacos-with-apple-cucumber-avocado-salsa/