Grilled Fish Tacos

Cooking fish used to be very intimidating. That was something I left for the pros...until a couple of years ago. I wanted to be able to serve fish as a great, healthy protein in our own home. Save money, eat a little less meat and know exactly what quality fish you're working with? Worth the challenge.

The key is to find frozen wild fish or something that smells and looks fresh from a market like Whole Foods or wherever you get your fresh seafood. Trader Joes has great frozen wild Mahi Mahi. Though Costco takes the cake as it has a pretty good variety of wild fish.

This recipe deserves a shout out to one of our dearest friends we've made here in Scottsdale. She's a mother of four whom I look up to. She is full of life and her love is so deep and so wide. Anyway, we oftentimes text each other for dinner inspiration. We just get so bored of cooking the same old things. One day, she responded with these fish tacos! She quickly texted me the ingredients and the rest is history. This has become one of our family's staples. :)

For these tacos, we use wild Mahi Mahi. About 30 minutes from cooking, I take out however many fillets from the freezer. Then I fill a clean sink with cold water just until the fillets (still in the individual package) are covered. Thaw for 20-30 minutes and make sure to change out the water a couple of times.

I grill the fish and flake with a fork. Heat up some corn tortillas. Spoon some Cilantro cream sauce on the tortillas, top with fish, and top that with an amazing slaw. Party in your mouth and you don't feel like you need a nap afterwards.

Cilantro Crema

Ingredients:
1/4 cup Quality mayonnaise
Juice of 1 Lime or small lemon (juice of half if you like it thicker)
2 teaspoons of Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons of Chopped cilantro
Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

Whisk all together and store in the fridge while you put everything else together.

Red Cabbage Slaw

Ingredients:

1 small Red cabbage thinly sliced
1 small Red onion thinly sliced
1 Apple cored and sliced into matchsticks (with peel on)
1/2 bunch Cilantro chopped
1/4 cup Red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons Grape seed, canola or vegetable oil
1 packet of Stevia or 1 tablespoon of sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a very large mixing bowl, combine all the veggies/apple together. Pour the red wine vinegar and oil over the veggies/apple. Sprinkle on your stevia or sugar. Mix and add salt and pepper to taste! Add more of whatever you like. Sometimes I drizzle a little more red wine vinegar but that's because I loooove vinegar.
 

Grilled Mahi Mahi

Ingredients:
4 wild Mahi Mahi fillets thawed (read above for thawing instructions)
Cajun seasoning or whatever seasoning you like
Salt and Pepper (If your Cajun seasoning already has salt, you may not need extra salt)

Directions:
Pat your fillets dry with a paper towel and season with your choice of seasonings, salt and pepper.

Preheat a grill (or grill pan), cast iron or regular fry pan on medium-high. Spray with cooking oil or drizzle a little oil of choice (I use grape seed oil) to coat the bottom of pan.

Once the pan is hot, add your fillets and grill/sear for about 4 minutes. Flip over and cook on the other side for 4-5 minutes. I like to cover my pan and leave a little air vent after I've flipped the fish (unless I'm grilling on the grill). I take the cover off for the last minute or so of cooking. The fish is done when it flakes easily with a fork.

Grilled Fish Tacos

Okay, now you're ready to assemble!

Heat your corn tortillas over low to low-medium heat in a dry fry pan, or put them in the microwave for a bit. But be careful as they can stick to each other. Start with 15 seconds.

Put your corn tortilla on a plate, spoon some cilantro crema on the bottom of a tortilla in a line, add your fish (on top of the line), and generously top with the slaw. I usually serve with warmed black beans. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family does.

To add: The recipe makes a lot of slaw. My family uses a lot of slaw on our tacos. We even take some flaked fish and just add it to the slaw to eat like a salad. Other ideas, put the slaw in a sandwich. Or on the side for any other meal you feel it would be tasty with.

Also, you could easily swap out the Mahi Mahi with some grilled shrimp!