fiery fish tacos with crunchy corn salsa

My parents came to visit this weekend. On Saturday, we woke up feeling ambitious, so we decided to clean out Justin and I’s junk room that is supposed to be our third bedroom. So, we all rolled up our sleeves, donned our HAZMAT suits, fired up the backhoe, put the finishing touches on our last will and testament, and bravely stepped into the disaster zone. It took the four of us three hours to clear it out, and we emptied two carloads-worth of furniture at a furniture consignment store. But I am proud to announce we now have a functioning third bedroom (anybody have a spare few mattresses?!). You can even walk in there. Whoa!

On the cooking front, I made the worst manicotti of my life Sunday night. Luckily, mom and dad had already headed home and weren’t subjected to it. First off, I forgot to buy mozzarella. And, I mean, if you’re not going to include mozzarella in your Italian dish, why bother? I substituted what I had which was cheddar cheese. It wasn’t quite right.

And then the sauce was a catastrophe. I bought traditional pasta sauce of a certain brand, and I always assumed that all pasta sauces were flavored with Italian seasoning. To me, this traditional sauce tasted like tomato sauce with salt or watered down tomato paste.  Justin said whenever he has used that version of sauce, he usually has to add his own spices. After tasting it, we marched straight to the seasoning rack and loaded it up on basil, oregano, and several other Italian spices. But even then, the dish was just mediocre. What can I say?  When we fail, we fail in spectacular fashion. Good thing I doubled the recipe! Ugh. We’ll be eating manicotti for weeks! Needless to say, the manicotti didn’t make the cut for the blog, but this fish taco recipe definitely did.

I made these fish tacos for my parents this weekend, and they loved them. I have been making these fish tacos for years, and I still get excited when I make them. I love the blackened tilapia and the fresh corn salsa. Jicama is a unique ingredient in this recipe. Jicama is a Mexican potato, but has a light and crispy texture when biting into it that is more reminiscent of biting into an apple than that of a potato. It’s wonderful in this. I also love this recipe because it is “street taco-esque” with the corn tortillas and salsa with fresh ingredients.

I always drizzle Thousand Island dressing over these tacos. Honestly, I’m not even a big Thousand Island fan, but the zesty dressing complements the spicy tacos and fresh salsa to a T.  And per my usual, I doubled the recipe. Happy eating!

Prep time: 30 miutes

Cook time: 10 minutes

Servings: 6

Ingredients:

1 cup canned corn (or fresh works great as well)

1/2 cup diced red onion

1 cup peeled, chopped jicama

1/2 cup diced red bell pepper

1 cup fresh cilantro leaves, finely chopped

1 lime, juiced

2 tablespoons sour cream

2 tablespoons cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon ground black pepper

1 tablespoons salt

6 (4 ounce) fillets tilapia

2 tablespoons olive oil

12 corn tortillas, warmed

Thousand Island dressing, drizzled (optional)

Directions:

In a medium bowl, mix together corn, red onion, jicama, red bell pepper, and cilantro. Add lime juice.

In a separate small bowl, combine cayenne pepper, ground black pepper, and salt, Brush each fillet with olive oil, then sprinkle with spices.

Cook the tilapia in a skillet for about 5-7 minutes or until the fish turns white.  Or, if cooking on the grill, put fish in a grill basket or grate, then cook for 3 minutes per side on high heat.

For serving, top two corn tortillas with about half a fish fillet each, then add sour cream, corn salsa, and Thousand Island dressing.

(Adapted from allrecipes.com: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/74337/fiery-fish-tacos-with-crunchy-corn-salsa/)