Grilled Chipotle Lime Fish Tacos With Napa Slaw

 

Last March, Christy and I traveled to California to celebrate our 10th anniversary.  Our goal on this trip was to live in the moment and experience the West Coast in a organic, free flowing way.  For those of you that really know me, you know that I am a planner, and yes, going into this trip, I had a definite itinerary but I intentionally left wiggle room in case we got lost, or we found ourselves somewhere not on the map.  Thank God, we did and we had a wonderful time.  One of the hidden gems we found was a little Taqueria that was next to a BBQ place that was featured on Diners Drive-Inns and Dives (one of my favorite shows).  This place was directly on the Pacific Coast Highway about 2 miles away from a trail we were going to hike.  We were looking forward to some BBQ but the line was out of the door so we settled for the taqueria.  It turns out that we made a great choice as we enjoyed some of the best fish tacos we had ever had!  My inspiration for this dish was that Taqueria and the chipotle fish tacos they served up!

 Ingredients:
Chipotle Sauce
1 small can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
1 thick slice of onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp of oregano
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 tbs Olive Oil
1/2 tsp Old Bay

Take the slice of onion and place it in a non-stick pan over medium heat with one tsp of Olive oil.  Let the onion cook until well browned on one side.  Flip the onion over.  Once the onion is well browned and almost cooked through, remove it from the heat and place it in a blender or food processor.  Add 5 chipotle peppers and all of the adobo sauce from the pepper can.  Add the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. 

Slaw
5 tbs Olive Oil
5 tbs Rice Wine Vinager
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 tbs Honey
1 tsp salt
1 small head of napa cabbage, thinly shredded
1 cup of Julienned carrots
1/2 cup of shaved onions

Combine the first 5 ingredients together in a non-reactive bowl, wisk well and correct for salt.  The sauce should be sweet, spicy and just a little tart.  In a large bowl, mix the last 3 ingredients together.  Mix in the dressing and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Fish
4 Talipia fillets
1 Tbls Olive Oil
1 tsp Old Bay
8 soft flour taco shells

Preheat the grill to medium high.  Cut each fish fillet in half horizontally.  Coat the fish fillets with the olive oil and Old Bay.  Then coat the fish with the chipotle sauce made earlier (reserve the left over chipotle sauce for later).  Place the fish on the grill.  Cook for 4 minutes on one side and 3 minutes on the reverse side or until the fish flakes easily with a fork. While the fish is cooking, you can warm up the taco shells on the grill, reserving them in aluminum foil.

To build the perfect fish taco, take some chipotle sauce and place it on the taco shell.  Then place a piece of fish on the taco shell.  Finally, finish it off by topping it with some of the Napa Slaw.  Then take huge bite and enjoy!  The fresh fish combined with the sweet/spicy/tartness of the slaw goes perfectly together!  If I close my eyes, I can almost smell the Pacific Ocean!