Fish Tacos with Mango Salsa and cutting produce the 'Paul McCartney Way'! (Day 10)

Last night was another night of cooking for guests! Only this time one of the guests had a gluten allergy, which was something new. I started racking my brain for a recipe that didn't include gluten, but as it turns out, gluten is in just about everything! At least that's what it felt like when I started to think of something to cook. But then I realized that fish tacos (on a corn tortilla) are not only gluten-free, but delicious, I went with that. My staple cookbook doesn't include fish tacos, so I did a quick search on the Internet. My fish taco recipe came from loveandoliveoil.com (a cooking website I'm definitely going to visit again) and my mango salsa recipe came from foodnetwork.com.

Fish Taco Recipe:1 lb. flaky white fish, such as halibut, tilapia, sole, or snapper
4 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 Tbsp. soy sauce

For Lime Sauce:
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1/2 cup low-fat yogurt
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped or pressed
Salt

 Prepare the fish marinade by combining the fresh lime juice with the vegetable oil and soy sauce in a rectangular glass or ceramic dish. Add the fish, turn to coat, and leave to marinate while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
Prepare the chipotle-lime sauce by combining the mayonnaise, yogurt, lime juice, chipotle chile, and chopped garlic in a bowl. Season to taste with salt.
Prepare mango salsa by mixing all ingredients together in a medium-large bowl and season to taste with salt.
Remove fish from the marinade and grill or saute until cooked through. Warm the tortillas, either in the oven, microwave, or saute in oil. Set out individual bowls of the sauce, salsa, and shredded cabbage.
For each individual taco, place some of the fish (breaking off chunks of the cooked fillets) on a tortilla, drizzle with the chipotle-lime sauce, and top with cabbage and mango salsa.
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Mango Salsa
1 mango, peeled and diced
1/2 cup peeled, diced cucumber
1 tablespoon finely chopped jalapeno
1/3 cup diced red onion
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/3 cup roughly chopped cilantro leaves
Salt and pepper
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Now, I didn't follow these recipes to the letter. For instance, Albertson's does not carry a chipotle chile in adobo sauce. I'm going to be honest, I didn't even know what that was. So I switched that out for pre-chopped green chiles. I also left the garlic out of that recipe (the chile-lime sauce.) And I left the soy sauce out of the fish marinade and cucumber and jalapeno out of the mango salsa.
Okay, moving on. I'd made mango salsa on tilapia in the summer, but that's just it. I made it in the summer, when mangos are a little more ripe. Finding a ripe mango in Idaho in the winter did not happen. I did find an unripened mango though, and although it was a little more on the tart side, it still worked. As I mentioned, I went for tilapia. And since we had four for dinner, I bought 2 lbs of it instead of 1.

I prepared the mango salsa first.

This is all you need for mango salsa!

And this is where I used the "Paul McCartney Way" to cut the produce. You're probably sitting there with this confused look on your face. Well, let me explain. A simple YouTube search of "Paul McCartney makes mashed potatoes" brings up an old video of Paul McCartney cooking mashed potatoes. Odd, huh? But Paul McCartney actually demonstrated a quick way of cutting produce, and I always use it! For instance, when it was time to dice the mango, I cut a grid into the mango, turned it on its side, and sliced it. The result are little cubes of mango! If they stick together like mine did, simply break them up with your fingers, or while stirring in the rest of the ingredients. It's very quick and kind of fun!

You can use the Paul McCartney way on onions too, except you don't need to cut a grid since it has so many layers. Simply cut vertical lines into the onion, and slice. The result is finely chopped onion!

Once you have stirred in all of the ingredients for your mango salsa, cover it, and let it chill in the fridge.

Here is the chile-lime sauce, which completed the taco and made it taste more authentic, in my opinion. All it is is plain yogurt, lime juice, chopped chiles, and a little mayo. Cover it, and let it chill in the fridge.

I know, a lot of fish! But it goes quickly, that's for sure. Here it is in its marinade, right before cooking.

Grilling...or maybe it's frying? Either way, it's cooking in vegetable oil and lime juice (lime juice was used a lot for this meal.) Those little bits in the pan are from the fish fillets that cooked in it right before these. I like cooking with fish because it's so fast, but they need a good deal of attention while in the pan. I constantly flipped them, otherwise they would stick to the pan. Once they start breaking apart super easily, they're done. While the fish cooks, get your tortillas warm by arranging them on a cookie sheet and sticking them into the oven on the lowest temperature.

Add your fish, mango salsa, chile-lime sauce and a little cabbage together on a tortilla and you have a delicious fish taco!

 Let me tell you, they went fast! All of the different elements came together so nicely. There was the tart of the mango (although it's typically supposed to add sweetness), zing from the chile-lime sauce, a little spice...and I'm making myself hungry just thinking about it.

Taste: 10. I was surprised at how authentic they tasted. When Rory and I spent a month in San Diego, we ate fish tacos at least once a week, and this recipe was just as good as any of them! I think it was the chile-lime sauce that really made it great. It tasted really authentic, yet unique at the same time. And I'm really pleased with how the fish came out. As soon as they were cooked all of the way, they came off the frying pan. They were more juicy and flavorful that way. I feel if tilapia is cooked too long, it tastes like nothing.
Simplicity: 9. A lot easier than I expected! This seems to happen to me more often these days. The good thing about this dish is you can make the mango salsa and chile-lime sauce hours in advance since they can chill in the refrigerator. The fish was the only tricky part since it needs to be watched the whole time it cooks.
Overall I'm really pleased with this dish! I have two extra fish fillets and chicken, a little leftover mango salsa, and chile-lime sauce. We're looking forward to eating this again tonight! I highly recommend this one for when you have guests over because they're fun for the guests to put together, and even people who don't care much for fish will love it. This would also be good with chicken or sweet pork if you absolutely refuse to cook or eat fish.