Welcome back me! I took a pretty long hiatus, during which time we moved to Gulfport, Mississippi, and now that I am sans my ER job again, I am back in the dinner-making saddle. (Though I must say, the hospital cafeteria burgers at PCRMC rank among some of the top burgers I've ever eaten... just probably not good for you three shifts in a row...)
So when I think of fish tacos, I get frustrated. They look and sound so delish, but I detest mayonnaise oh so much, and usually they come with some sort of mayo/aioli/tartar sauce type of thing. So I order the shrimp. Well enough is enough! I want to enjoy some fish tacos too! So I decided to concoct my own...
I decided on tilapia, and seasoned it with a mix of things... salt, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, dill weed, lemon pepper, lime juice, butter... and cooked it up. I made my Tara's signature salsa (and, by the way, Pampered Chef will be getting a call... my fave scissors rusted and they're only a few months old!) as a pico de gallo, and chopped up some Romaine lettuce. Big deal so far, right? Well. I still needed a sauce. What I did was make a mango/jalapeno guacamole, and "sauced" out the avocado with some lime juice, a bit of sour cream, and a touch of olive oil. I also added some fresh cilantro, scallions, some cayenne pepper, and I think a smidge of lemon pepper and salt. Didn't really write it down as I made it all up. I left a little bit of the fresh diced mango and avocado to add to the tacos. Then I grated up some Monterey Jack & Jalapeno cheese, and sprinkled some fresh lime zest on the cheese and guac. Add to some flour tortillas or even some tortilla chips, and voila! Mayo-less fish tacos!
I can't wait to eat this!! In the meantime, I was so wrapped up in drooling over the anticipated deliciousness of this meal that I didn't realize I locked my phone in the car until I wanted to take a pic of the plate. I missed Matt's phone call, and it was probably to tell me he'll be home late. Sigh. I want to eat them now!! YAY he just pulled in as I wrote that!!
It was delicious!! Matt loved it too! I threw some of the leftover pico & guac in a burrito with his similarly spiced scrambled egg breakfast! And the rest will be for chips, or a quick whip up of some more tilapia! Ayeayeayeaye!
..............So I posted this because I thought I was happy with this recipe. I went on a bikeride today and got caught in a storm by the beach for a good hour, and all I could think about was fried food. I know, weird. But I got home and showered off and it dawned on me that I should make a tortilla crust for the tilapia. So I got out some stale tortillas that moved with us, (because I have non-stale ones too, so I might as well use the stale ones, right?) and my mortar and pestle, and made some tortilla flakes. I threw the spices I'd used into the egg mix, coated the fish, rolled it in the tortilla crust, and fried it up in a pan. Result: even more deliciousness. More texture than before. Probably less healthy, but come on. It's a pretty healthy meal overall... Take a look at it's deliciousness...
Take a closer look...
Yeah. It was really good.
