Fish Tacos with Roasted Tomatillo Sauce and Lime & Garlic Crema

It's back to school today - at least for me. I have had this week off of teaching and I am anxious to get back to the classes again. Since Clarksville's roads are fine, I will be teaching. Hope all of the students are ready to get back to writing some excellent compositions again! I'm all out of essays to grade and need to replenish my supply! Ha!

The first time I heard someone mention fish tacos I was totally grossed out. Of course, I didn't follow the advice I always give to other people, "Don't knock it before you've tried it," and I hadn't tried them. Once I did I started looking for them on menus. There are three places in Nashville (that I know of) that serve awesome fish tacos... Baja Burrito, Baja Fresh and Blue Coast Burrito. Both of them have about the same type of taco, so I don't like one over the other. I have made them at my house a couple of times and have been working on making them my own. The fish recipe I developed a couple of months ago and it is nothing special - most people probably do this without even thinking about it and I have never really written it down because it is so easy to remember. The sauces that go with them came from watching Food Network shows and seeing what looks good and trying to replicate it from my own mind and what I like. Try parts of this, or put them all together with some warm corn (or flour) tortillas. Kami, who has said for years that she doesn't like fish, ate these last night and loved them.

FISH
6 talapia fillets
1 clove garlic minced
1 lemon zested and juiced
2 T olive oil
2 T. capers, rinsed
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350'. Lay the fish in a baking dish and drizzle with olive oil, lemon juice (reserve the zest), capers and salt/pepper. Bake for 10-12 minutes until fish is thoroughly cooked.

Talapia is inexpensive and very mild. The fillets are thin so they cook rather quickly. Most burrito places fry their fish, but this is a much healthier alternative. I use half of a fillet for each taco.

ROASTED TOMATILLO SAUCE

8-10 tomatillos
1 med. sweet onion (don't peel yet!)
2 jalapeno peppers
2 cloves garlic (don't peel yet!)
1 lime, juiced
1 bunch cilantro
1/2 t. cumin
1/2 t. salt
1 T. olive oil

Remove the husks and rinse off the tomatillos. Place them along with the whole, unpeeled onion and two whole jalapenos. Broil about 8" from the heat for 15 minutes, turning occasionally to char all sides. Add unpeeled garlic to the pan and broil an additional 5 minutes. Remove from oven and allow vegetables to cool completely. When they have cooled, peel the onion and garlic and seed the jalapenos (or not if you like it really hot), place them in the bowl of the food processor and process until smooth. Add in the tops of the cilantro - I rinse the whole bunch and just cut above the band holding it together, toss out the stems and throw the top of the bunch into the food processor with the salt, cumin, lime juice and olive oil. Process 2-3 minutes until fairly smooth. Put in plastic container and store covered in the fridge for up to a month.

LIME & GARLIC CREMA

1 c. sour cream (or Mexican Crema)
1 or 2 large limes zested and juiced
1 t. garlic salt

Combine all ingredients and whisk until smooth.You want this rather thin so you can drizzle it on your taco, so you may need to add the second lime, depending on how juicy the first one is!