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Catch & Cook – Pan Seared Mahi Fish Tacos
Ok, so I’ve shown you one way to cook up the incredibly fast-growing, colorful, and delicious mahi mahi, here’s another one. Mahi Fish Tacos is a delicious option for using smaller pieces of mahi mahi from south of the border. While some of the fish we caught off the weed line on the other side of the Gulf Stream were larger mahi, we did get a few smaller pieces that produced thinner fillets. Which are perfect to season up and sear up real quick in a hot pan for tacos. This recipe is a little more involved than the Mahi Matecumbe, only if you make it this way. You don’t have to make both of the toppings I do here but I do recommend you do it.
Cooking Content on OutdoorHub
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- Breaking it Down: Whole Fried Dove
- Breaking it Down: Blackened Coosa River Striper
- Breaking It Down: Filleting an American Red Snapper
- Breaking it Down: Cleaning Spring Squid – (Sautéed Calamari)
Mahi Fish Tacos Ingredients
- Mahi Fillets cut into finger-sized pieces
- Corn Tortillas
- 3 tomatillos
- 1 bunch of Cilantro
- 2 Serrano Pepper
- 1 Onion
- 1 Avocado
- Cabbage
- 4 limes
- 1 red onion
- White Wine Vinegar
- Oregano
- White Pepper
- Creole Seasoning
- Salt & Pepper
The first thing we need to make is the Guacamole Salsa. This is different than the guacamole you are probably familiar with, the main ingredient in this is tomatillo instead of straight avocado. So it is thinner in consistency and more vibrant in taste. Start off by taking a torch to the tomatillos and serrano pepper, you want to char the outside like this for the best flavor. If you don’t have a torch just put in on a gas burner. If you don’t have either you can skip this step, while not optimal it will still work without the char.
Next, take all the charred veg and place them in a small saucepan of boiling water and just boil them on high for the next 10-15 minutes until they are all cooked through. You can tell when they are done when the color turns into a more muted green over the whole tomatillo.
Once the tomatillos and serrano are done, pop them into a blender. There add in the whole peeled onion, halved. A fistful of cilantro, the avocado, a lime’s worth of juice, and salt and pepper. Then blend all of that together till smooth. Adjust it to your taste as you go, adding in more lime, salt, and cilantro as needed. Once it’s at where you like it put it away in an airtight container in the fridge for later. This salsa will be good for about a week.
Next topping to prep is the pickled red onions, thinly slice one whole red onion and place them into a container. Then take 1/2 of a deseeded serrano pepper and dice it up finely. Then add that into the container as well. Add in some white pepper, note white pepper is different from black pepper. The flavor is more pungent and less floral.
Juice the two limes into a bowl, add in 1 teaspoon of salt, 1tsp of oregano, and 3 tablespoons of white wine vinegar. Mix till the salt is dissolved. Pour it over the red onions then mix the onions till all of it is covered in the pickling brine. Put away in the fridge till later.
Now the salsa and pickled onions are done being prepped, start prepping the fish for the mahi fish tacos. Cut the fillets into about finger-sized pieces, that way they’ll be a good size to fit inside the tortilla later. Once the fish is all cut to size, season it up with whatever seasoning you like, I just went with Old Faithful creole seasoning. Put the fish aside to let the salt work its way in. Next finish up the prep for the mahi fish tacos, thinly slice up some cabbage, cut the limes into wedges, and chop up some more cilantro. Once you finish that up you can start cooking up your fish.
I’m doing nothing fancy here, just fry them up in a pan till nicely seared. Once they are done pull them out and place on a warmed plate. When cooking the mahi don’t overcrowd the pan, you’ll drop it’s temperature too much and not produce a good sear. While you are cooking the fish have another pan on the side toasting up the corn tortillas as you go. If you really can’t stand corn tortillas you can use flour tortillas, but I judge you for that. If using corn tortillas go two tortillas per taco, if flour use only one tortilla per taco.
Now that the Mahi is all done you can assemble your tacos, place the fish down on the tortillas first then add everything you want on top. While I didn’t mention it earlier, a bit of crema(kinda like Mexican sour cream/creme fraiche) and crumbled queso fresco is also a great topping choice. Once you have all your Mahi fish tacos assembled serve with some tortilla chips, more of the guacamole salsa, and a nice Mexican beer.
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