Lemon Juice
Fish Tacos with Creamy Garlicky Chipolte-y Sauce
- Serves 4
Author Notes
This fish taco recipe is a weeknight staple in our house - it comes together quickly and all the taco fixing prep seems perfectly timed to allow the sauce and fish to marinate just enough. It was born of a combination and iterative tweaking of several recipes - so many thanks to all its predecessors including a few on this site: Best Fish Tacos Ever with Chipotle Aioli and Mango Salsa and spicy fish tacos with corn & tomato salsa. Consider the spice mix entirely riff-able. —allekas
What You'll Need
Ingredients
- For the Sauce
-
2
garlic cloves, minced
-
1
chipolte pepper (or more to taste), minced
-
1 tablespoon
chipolte adobo sauce
-
2 teaspoons
lemon juice
-
1/3 cup
Greek yogurt
-
2 tablespoons
mayonnaise
-
1/2 teaspoon
kosher salt
- For the Fish
-
1 1/2 pounds
rockfish (or any white fish filet about 1 inch thick)
-
2 teaspoons
Maldon sea salt flakes (or something like this)
-
1/4 cup
olive oil + 1 TB for pan to cook fish
-
1/3 cup
lime juice (or lemon juice or combination thereof)
-
1 tablespoon
smoked hot paprika
-
1 tablespoon
ground cumin
-
2 teaspoons
ground coriander
-
2 teaspoons
ground harissa powder
-
2 teaspoons
garlic powder
-
1 teaspoon
chili powder
-
1/2 teaspoon
cayennne (or more to taste)
-
1 teaspoon
kosher salt
-
4 - 6
corn tortillas or corn taco shells
-
Shredded lettuce or arugula, shaved cabbage, grated cheddar and monterey jack cheeses, sliced black olives, chopped tomatoes, and pickled jalapenos to serve.
Directions
- For the Sauce
- Mix all ingredients together in small bowl. Taste and keep adding things until it tastes good: Salt or lemon if tastes too much like mayo/yogurt, chipotle sauce if not spicy enough, more mayo/yogurt if it is too spicy. Garlic flavor will develop as it sits in fridge - so put it in the fridge until ready to serve.
- For the Fish
- 1. Mix all spices (smoked paprika through kosher salt; do not mix salt flakes) in small bowl. This is your spice mix.
- 1. Place fish filets in 9x13 casserole dish. Coat filets with spice mix. It will be thick on the fish - almost caked; when little piles of spices accumulate, find a bare part of the fish and rub in in the pile like you are using the fish as a sponge.
- Sprinkle half of the sea salt flakes over the filets. Pour half of the olive oil over the flakes. Flip and do the same to the other sides. Some of the flakes will fall off - don't suss; it will all work out in the end.
- Pour the lime (or lime/lemon) juice over everything. If anything looks uneven, swirl or scrunch the fish around in the dish to coat with the juice.
- Cover the dish with plastic wrap and refridgerate for about 20 - 30 minutes. Use that time to prep your general taco fixings like lettuce, cheese, whatnot.
- Heat a tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat in a large pan. When hot, place the filets in and cook for 3 - 4 minutes each side until they flake easily.
- Serve cooked filets with soft or hard corn tortillas, chipotle sauce, lettuce, cheese, japapenos, and all the good taco fixings you prepped.
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