Seafood Specials: Great Recipes that Help Save Oceans

Recipes from NRDC's home cooks and a few of our chef friends help you take the guesswork out of serving a healthy, feel-good seafood meal.

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Baja Fish Tacos with Cabbage Salsa

(adapted from Tequila: The Book, by Ann and Larry Walker)
~ Barry Nelson, NRDC senior policy analyst, San Francisco

Ingredients

• Fish:
• 1 1/2 pounds Pacific halibut, farmed striped bass, mahi mahi or other firm, sustainable fish
• 1/2 cup flour or breadcrumbs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• Dash of cayenne pepper
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup milk
• 4 tablespoons olive, canola or corn oil
• 12 corn tortillas (handmade are best)

• Salsa:
• 1 small head of cabbage
• Juice of 1 orange and 1 lime
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon tequila
• 1 teaspoon oregano, crumbled
• 1 large tomato, diced
• 1 canned jalapeno chili, minced

Preparation

1. Remove the tough outer leaves of cabbage and shred the head into a large bowl. Add remaining salsa ingredients and stir. Set aside for at least 30 minutes while you make the fish.
2. Cut the fish into strips 1 inch wide. Combine the flour, salt, cumin, black and cayenne peppers in a shallow bowl. Pour milk into another shallow bowl. Dip the fish in the milk and toss the fish in the flour mixture.
3. Heat the oil in a skillet over high heat. When the oil is hot, add the fish and fry, turning once, until it is golden brown on both sides (this takes only a few minutes). Toss in the garlic as the fish fries. Remove fish and dry on paper towels.
4. Warm the tortillas in foil in the oven or in a dry skillet on the stovetop.
5. Serve the tortillas in one bowl, the fish in another and the cabbage salsa in a third.

Serves 6.

Tip

If you don't have time to make the cabbage salsa, use any good salsa, a little sour cream and a squeeze of lime.

Comments

This meal is fast and easy. It came in handy when my wife and I were kayaking in the Sea of Cortez. We caught a large squid in a tidepool with our hands -- just before the gulls got to him. We then had possibly the best dinner of my life -- sitting on the beach, watching the sun set and then being dazzled as phosphorescent plankton lit up the tiny waves breaking on the beach.

More Tasty (and Sustainable) Seafood Recipes

• Baja Fish Tacos with Cabbage Salsa
• Baked Halibut with Three Colored Peppers and Red Bliss and Fingerling Potatoes
• Buttermilk Fried Fresh Anchovies with Harissa
• Catfish Lafitte
• Chermoula Halibut with Red Quinoa, Edamame and Shell Bean Salad with Preserved Lemon Vinaigrette
• Firecracker Salmon with Roasted Corn Medley
• Grilled Fresh Sardines with Preserved Lemon Salsa Verde
• Honey Salmon
• Kerala-style Fried Fish
• Krissy T's Wild Salmon
• Pacific Cod Potpies with Dill Biscuit Crust
• Poached Alaskan Halibut, Sweet and Sour Golden and Red Beets, Citrus and Extra Virgin Olive Oil Emulsion
• Seared Farmed Striped Bass with Chive Whipped Potatoes, Truffle Vinaigrette and Hen of the Woods Mushrooms
• Sopa de Pescado
• Steamed Halibut on a Bed of Leeks and Carrots

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