The Pioneer Dude: One Semi Sweet Life….fish tacos!

Poor Sandy had oral surgery Wednesday, and has been surviving on yogurt and apple sauce for the last 2 days. Today was the day she could move from her cold liquid diet to a warm, soft diet. Typically Friday night is steak night and I toyed with the idea of throwing a rib eye into the blender for her, but I couldn’t bring myself to do that to the King of steaks, so I opted for a recipe recommended by Jamie Lee Hodges for grilled fish taco’s.

This is really a simple and easy meal to prepare. I’ve  had fish tacos twice in my life, so my expectations were low. I’m a red meat guy and my idea of the perfect fish dinner is usually not to have the fish but opt instead for the beef. But Sandy was needing something non-yogurt, so I was willing to take one for the team.

The Cast of Characters: Fish…I used black drum (Chicken Sandy decided last minute that she would rather have salmon steaks. She would want some taco later but I ate ‘em all so she had to suffer). Corn tortillas, shredded cabbage, pico de gallo (recipe calls for tomato & cilantro, but I need jalapeno…lots of jalapeno. This also proved to be a time saver and went well with the fish), and other stuff. I found it necessary to have a Sierra Nevada since I was, after all, BBQing.  I’ll post the recipe at the end so you can give it a look see. (not for the beer but for the tacos).

While the coals heated, I seasoned the fish with olive oil,  pepper (black & red…I said I like it spicy) and Cajun spices. I then made the sauce using a cup of sour cream, and a 1/2 tsp. each of garlic salt, paprika and chili powder. At this point I also poured another Sierra Nevada….cooking makes one thirsty.

When the coals were ready I tossed the fish on the grill, cooking for 5-6 minutes per side. When I turned the fish I also put the tortilla’s on the grill to heat.

Simple enough! Bring it in the house. Slather the sauce on a tortilla, add a little sliced cabbage, pepitas (that’s roasted pumpkin seed folks), some pico, the fish and munch! I would also recommend that you possibly consider just one more Sierra here. Eating can really build up a powerful thirst.

Delicious!

We served it with saffron rice and a spinach soufflé (don’t be impressed…it was a Stouffer’s frozen).  Oh and a cold Sierra Nevada. Milly even wanted some…fish. Milly doesn’t have sophisticated enough taste buds to fully appreciate a cold beer.

As promised, here’s the link to the recipe.   http://steamykitchen.com/1528-grilled-fish-tacos.html   This stupid blog won’t let me post links…sorry. But just copy & paste. You’ll be alright.

I would also like to extend my most heartfelt thanks to Ree Drummond (Thepioneerwoman.com) and Jamie Lee Hodges (Onesweetlife.net) for letting me have a little fun with their web formats. Both of these women have deliciously fantastic sites and have helped me to move beyond the grill in my love for cooking.

This one’s for you!

Bill

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