As with so many things, I was late to the fish taco party. For a long time they just didn't sound appealing at all, or my inner 13-year-old would giggle. Then one night I was watching one of my favorite Food Network shows, Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, and one of the segments was this place in California where the specialty is fish tacos. I saw how they were prepared and thought I can do that.
Oddly enough, the first time I made them at home was when I had no kitchen. We were renovating, the kitchen was gutted down to the studs, and we had temporary digs set up in the living room. Working with my two butane burners, I tried to approximate what I'd seen on TV by sauteing chunks of roughy in butter and lime juice, then serving with a lot of fixings: quartered cherry tomatoes, chopped scallions, and prepared broccoli slaw. Broccoli slaw is an awesome invention and I always have a bag of it on hand, especially in summer.
And wow, were they good. I couldn't believe I'd lived this long without trying them.
So I made these the other night but as I had no filet fish on hand, I reached instead for a box of Trader Joe's mahi-mahi burgers. These are great on the grill in summer time, they make a nice alternative to hamburgers. I figured they'd work for tacos. I just fried them up 5 minutes on a side then cut them into rough chunks. I made the broccoli slaw again although I had it in the back of my mind that the celery-fennel slaw would be amazing with fish tacos. Baby spinach, and halved cherry tomatoes and sliced cucumbers.
Everyone fix 'em up, roll 'em up, come and get 'em. I can't wait to eat these outside on my deck.
