Taste of the Sisterhood: Mid-Week Fiesta – Fish Tacos & Mexican Five Layer Dip

I just discovered tilapia recently… it’s a nice, mild white fish. A good fish for those who are fish beginners. And did I mention it is inexpensive? Double bonus.

Gather:

For the fish:
frozen tilapia fillets – 1 for each person
1 lime, thinly sliced
olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground pepper
ground cumin

For the Avocado Cream:
1 large ripe avocado
1/2 cup yogurt
1/2 cup sour cream
1 large clove garlic, grated on microplane
1/4 cup cilantro, roughly chopped
Juice of 1 lime
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon chili powder

Garnish:
corn tortillas
cabbage or lettuce, chopped (I prefer cabbage – it’s more traditional for fish tacos)
shredded sharp cheddar cheese
diced tomatoes
fresh cilantro
salsa or pico de gallo
lime slices for squeezing

Preheat the oven to 400. Arrange the frozen tilapia in a pan, dot with butter, sprinkle with salt, pepper and cumin, and lay lime slices over each fillet.

Place the tilapia in the oven, it will bake about 30 minutes.

While the fish is working, make your avocado cream sauce. Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender (or you can use an immersion blender) and whiz till smooth and creamy. Check for seasonings – add more to your taste.

Prep the accouterments.  Don’t forget to warm up your tortillas!

When the fish is ready (flaky and opaque), remove from the oven. Break the fish into chunks, and assemble the tacos.

Clearly, the nutrition information for this recipe will differ according to how you assemble the tacos. Below is the the nutrition info based upon one taco containing: 1 corn tortilla, 1/2 tilapia fillet, 1 tsp olive oil (for cooking fish), 1 Tablespoon shredded cheddar, 3 Tablespoon avocado cream. Load up on the veggies and salsa…I don’t think that a bunch of vegetables are really going to skew the numbers.

Nutrition Info: 221 calories, 10.9 g fat (3.9 saturated), 23 mg sodium, .6 g fiber, 15 protein

Just a side note, I’m not sure how this is FIVE layers…I counted three. Maybe four, if cheese is a layer. Anyhow…

I love this dip. It’s very pretty and I’m partial to pretty food. I threw a little extra cilantro on top to make it pop. Sorry to all the cilantro haters out there (p.s. what is WRONG with you?).

I made very few modifications to the original Ellie Krieger recipe. I left out the jalapeno (Thank God. I had no idea how HOT chipotles in adobo are. Holy heat, Batman). By all means, if you like heat, go for the jalapeno.

I did find the dip to be a little watery after being in the fridge for a while – SO – either serve it immediately, or omit the extra water the black bean portion of the dip calls for. And drain the black beans really, REALLY well. I’d probably even pat them down on a paper towel.

Gather:

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (15.5-ounce) can black beans, preferably low-sodium, drained and rinsed
1 tablespoon minced chipotle pepper in adobo
4 tablespoons lime juice
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups corn kernels (10-ounce box frozen corn)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
2 ripe avocados
4 medium tomatoes, seeded and diced (about 2 cups)
1/4 cup thinly sliced scallion
3/4 cup shredded extra-sharp Cheddar

How to:

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook until they soften, about 3 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook for 2 minutes more.

Put half of the onion mixture into a food processor with the black beans, chipotle pepper, 2 tablespoons of the lime juice, cumin and salt. Puree until smooth. Set aside.

Add the corn to the skillet with the remaining onion mixture and cook for about 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the cilantro leaves.

In a small bowl mash the avocado with the remaining lime juice. In a medium bowl toss together the tomatoes, scallion and jalapeno, if using. Season tomato mixture with salt and pepper, to taste.

Spread the black bean dip into the bottom of an 8 by 8 glass baking or serving dish. Top with the corn mixture, spreading it out to form a single layer over the beans, repeat with the avocado, then the tomatoes. Top with cheese. Serve with baked chips.

Nutrition Info Per 1/2 cup serving (not including chips): 140 calories; 8 g fat (2 g saturated); 5g protein; 5g fiber; 245 mg sodium