Veracruz Fish Tacos

We made the BEST fish tacos ever last night! Unbelievably, the recipe was from a WeightWatchers cookbook I bought several years back when I was participating in the program. Let me explain why we were cooking from a WeightWatchers cookbook when our personal cooking library includes over a hundred of the best cookbooks available, including our new Cooks Illustrated Cookbook with 2,000+ recipes. On second thought, maybe the answer is obvious! We have a house guest for the next few months and together we decided that cooking sensible, low-calorie meals during the week followed by an eating frenzy each weekend would hopefully result in a net loss for each of us by the end of her stay. We started the program last Monday by preparing a week long-menu from the Take-Out Tonight WeightWatchers cookbook with Friday night's meal Veracruz Fish Tacos. This killed two birds with one stone, as the saying goes, as it's low cal and used up some of the Dorado in our freezer making room for our 2013 shipment of Dorado. Actually, it's not shipped...we'll be driving to Portland in two weeks to pick up an ice chest full of fish Lauren caught in La Paz this very weekend.

We've been making tacos for years with Verne's ground beef and bean tacos a family favorite. One of my personal favorites is a carnitas taco made from slow-cooked pork. Last Christmas we received a gift-with-purchase cookbook called Just Tacos and have tried a few fish taco recipes in it, including Broiled Fish Steak Tacos with Smoky Adobo Mayonnaise and Baja Fish Tacos with Lime-Chipotle Mayonnaise...both Delicious! Well, Friday night we added a third to our Fish Taco Repertoire and it may just be the best yet! I don't usually include detailed recipes, but I'm going to make an exception so you'll be sure to try it soon...

Veracruz Fish Tacos

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 medium tomato, finely diced

1 tablespoon Cajun or Southwest seasoning (Penzey's, of course)

1/2 cup salsa 

1 pound white fish fillets, cut into small pieces

6 tortillas

In medium saute pan, heat 1 teaspoon of oil and add onions. Saute until just beginning to caramelize, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add garlic and saute 30 seconds longer then add tomatoes and cook until tomatoes are very soft, about 4 minutes. Remove mixture and cover to keep warm.

Wipe pan clean and add 1 teaspoon of oil. When hot, add fish and sprinkle with 1/2 of seasoning. Cook about 4 minutes and turn, adding remaining seasoning and cook another 4 minutes or until fish is just done and opaque in center. Add 1/2 cup of the salsa and reserved onion mixture and cook another 1-2 minutes to heat thoroughly. 

Lightly fry both sides of tortillas or for a lower cal version, cover with a slightly damp towel to prevent drying and heat in microwave. 

Serve with shredded cabbage, thinly sliced scallions, avocado and salsa.

Simple, low-calorie, and very tasty...Bon Appetit!