I’m not a huge fish person, so fish tacos are not something you’d normally find on my menu. Recently though, we’ve started cooking less meat in our house, and plain old chicken, even with endless preparations, gets kind of tired. My husband came home from work one day raving about the red snapper he’d had for lunch, so when I saw some fresh snapper at the fishmonger, I decided to surprise him with something fresh and different from our usual fare. I’ve been making it ever since, and not just with red snapper.
Fish tacos should be a light and filling dish, so I don’t like to fry my fish with a heavy bread crumb topping. Instead, I dust it with a light coating of flour, giving it the perfect golden crust that you just can’t get on it’s own. I wouldn’t even call this fried fish – it’s only lightly pan-fried in a little oil.
Panfried Red Snapper
4 red snapper fillets (or any white fish fillet)
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
juice of 1/2 lime
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp ginger
pinch of cayenne pepper
s&p, to taste
canola oil, for frying
lime wedges, for serving
Method:
Add olive oil, garlic and lime to a shallow bowl or ziploc bag. Place the red snapper in the liquid and marinate for 15 minutes. Remove from bag and shake off garlic and liquid. In a separate shallow bowl, whisk the flour with the spices. Dredge the fish in the flour and shake off, so that only a light coating remains. Pan-fry the fish in hot oil until golden on both sides.
Flake gently with a fork, add to fish tacos and serve immediately.
Ask any fish taco enthusiast and they will tell you that every fish taco needs 2 accompaniments – a sauce and a slaw. To make things easier, I combine the two. My creamy broccoli slaw is a great change from typical slaw recipes that use cabbage. It’s dressed with a delicious combo of sour cream, jalapeno and lime – the perfect complements to flaky fish.
Creamy Broccoli Slaw
1 12oz. bag broccoli slaw*
1/3 cup mayo
1/3 cup sour cream
1/4 cup rice vinegar
juice of 1/2 lime
zest of 1/2 lime
1/2 jalapeno, seeds and veins removed, finely diced
2 tbsp sugar
salt and pepper, to taste
avocado slices, for garnish
Method:
In a bowl, whisk the dressing ingredients. Pour over broccoli slaw and mix well. Serve with fish tacos, garnished with avocado slices.
*If you cannot find broccoli slaw, you can make your own. Shred 1 bunch of broccoli stems with 1 carrot and 1/4 head of red cabbage.
NOTE: For dairy free broccoli slaw, you may use additional mayo in place of the sour cream.
To assemble your fish tacos, heat up some soft corn tortillas in a dry pan, lightly browning on both sides. Holding the tortilla in the palm of your hand, fill with slaw and top with flaked fish and avocado slices.
1 year ago: linguini lasagna
2 years ago: blueberry corn pancakes
Yum! These look great! I love fish tacos. The perfect simple dinner treat!
love fish tacos! This looks so great!
That is a yummy looking piece of fish!
I never had broccoli slaw. Looks fresh and delicious. Great dish for summer.
I loooooooove fish tacos (especially from Fish Grill) and I never made them at home. This is a great recipe to come back to!
Fish tacos are my son’s favorite meal, so I make them a lot but have never thought to top them with broccoli slaw. I will have to try that next time.
Love fish tacos. Great idea to use the broccoli slaw.
Wow, that sounds tasty!
This looks amazing! I have been dreaming about making my own fish tacos for ages. Thank you for being awesome and sharing your recipe!
i love tacos of all kinds, and recently started using broccoli slaw on mine! these sound/look delicious!
I would eat this. And enjoy it very much. My husband would pick out the fish then eat it. My youngerSon would pick out the fish, scrape off the coating then eat it. So to save time, I make the fish and plate it for the “boys”, then continue with assembling the tacos and make yummy noises while eating them. Everyone is happy and I get to enjoy the slaw over several days.
I’m totally with you. It’s hard to appeal to everyone’s tastes at the table!
Looks great, if you make the broccoli salad yourself how long has to set this in the fridge in advance?
You mean if you grate the slaw yourself? You can make the salad right away after grating. Let it marinate in the dressing for however long you have.
Hi which store can I find the corn tortillas?
I’m not sure where you live, but I buy it at The Marketplace here in Crown Heights.