Fish Taco Night

Last Saturday after a full day of working on our built-ins, I made the hubby and I fish tacos with the most amazing chipotle aioli. The prerequisite of cooking such meal is to start by drinking my favorite margaritas so we made ourselves a pitcher. I have to say that I love our family dinners especially now that Ella Sofia is getting bigger and eating more real food {as opposed to everything mashed}, but there are just some meals that the hubby and I love that the kiddos don't, so on those nights we wait until the kiddos fall asleep and we proceed with our dinner date. We really enjoy these nights and we usually bring the meal to our coffee table while catching up on our favorite tv shows. Keep reading to get the recipes.

Here's what our fish taco dinner date included: Panko-Crusted Tilapia, Cherry Tomato Salsa Fresca, Chipotle Aioli, Corn Tortillas, Cabbage, limes, and Agave Margaritas.

Panko-Crusted Tilapia
4 fresh fillets
1 - 2 cups Vegetable oil, for frying
2 cups Panko
2 tsp Chipotle ground pepper
Salt
Pepper

1. Heat the oil in a large pan.
2. In a bowl, mix the panko, ground chipotle pepper, salt and pepper to taste.
3. Dip the fish fillets one by one into your panko bowl. Note: I don't dip the fillets in an egg wash first since they are a bit moist, I find that the panko sticks to the fish well.
4. Fry your fish until done about 3 minutes per side.
5. Remove from pan and place in a platter lined with paper.

Cherry Tomato Salsa Fresca
12 oz of cherry tomatoes, chopped
1/3 of a large yellow or white onion, diced
1/3 cup of chopped cilantro
the juice of two lemons
Salt

Mix all ingredients together and set aside. Note: I would normally add diced jalapeño, but because the aioli is a bit spicy, I opted to leave it out.

Chipotle Aioli*
1/4 cup of mayonnaise
1/2 cup of plain Greek yogurt
2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (canned)
a dash of honey
salt and pepper
juice of half of lime, add more if needed
a small splash of rice vinegar

To assemble your tacos, warm your tortillas, add the fish to your warm tortilla, add sliced cabbage, salsa fresca, and top with the chipotle aioli.

Agave Margaritas**
1 lime wedge
Kosher salt
Ice
2 oz good tequila
1 oz fresh lime juice
1oz agave nectar

Moisten half of the outer rim of a glass with the lime wedge (that way, you get salty on one side, but it doesn’t overpower the drink!) and twist the edge into a saucer full of kosher salt. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice. Add the tequila, lime juice and agave nectar. Shake well and strain into the glass. This is for one serving. Multiply to make a pitcher.

* recipe adapted from Love and Lemons
** recipe via Camille Styles

image via Sara Mueller for this blog