Tacos de pescados y carne

My husband's birthday was yesterday, so even though we are officially celebrating tonight with dinner out and a cake I have baked and crumbed hanging out in the fridge, I didn't want to be remiss about making something good for dinner.

I recently found the recipe for some fish tacos, on Epicurious, that seemed to fit the bill. And for the Birthday Boy? Carne de ranchera, beef tacos, with beef prepared and marinated at our local mexican grocery store. He just doesn't do fish.

Although, he did recently try a bite of crab and agreed to let me make crab cakes. Coming soon I hope.

I picked up some tilapia fillets, no mahi-mahi in yesterday.


I let them sit in their deliciousness while I prepped the toppings. A side note, I ended up only having 3-4 teaspoons of chipotle chile powder for the fish marinade and it was enough. So don't fear if 5 teaspoons sound like a lot, feel free to cut back to taste. I have remedied my situation and now have fresh supplies of both chipotle and ancho chile powder. All is right in my kitchen.

I also only made the Southwest slaw and Mexican Crema from this particular recipe. In addition I made a very quick mango salsa and marinated some red onion slices in an orange vinegar with some cilantro.


Of everything, the one thing everyone wanted more of were the onions and the crema. All dinner long the crema was passed back and forth. The onions were gobbled up. Complaints were made that the onions were gone.

I have complaints today, because I slacked when it came to pictures. There was a point when my husband put a beer in my hand and we were talking with the family and whatnot, and somehow I ended up with only this one picture of a lone taco:


Best part? It's a little out of focus. I was eager to get back to eating, they were so very good. Also, no mango salsa pictures, oh well, I blame the one Pacifico I had.
How about a close up of the onions?

That's one red onion sliced with 1/2 cup vinegar and 2-3 tablespoons of cilantro. Just prep them and allow them to marinate for at least 30 minutes, longer is better, they just soak up the vinegar and are wonderful, both on the fish and carne tacos.

And here is the quickie recipe for a mango salsa, it is really easy.

Mango Salsa

4 ripe mangos, diced
1-2 jalapenos diced (I decide based on how warm the jalapenos are and who I am feeding)
2 limes, juiced (about 2 Tablespoons of juice)
2 tablespoons Cilantro chopped
1/2 red onion, diced.

Combine all ingredients in a non-reactive bowl and let sit for at least 30 minutes to allow flavors to come together.