Take a Trip to Baja

You must be familiar with the American restaurant chain, The Cheesecake Factory. You must also be familiar with their incredibly delicious selection of cheesecakes. Now, what I'm about to disclose is going to rock your world. Cheesecake is not the most delicious dish on their menu. Yes. You heard me right. 


There is something else on the menu that's even BETTER than a slice of Nutella cheesecake. What could that be? The Fish Tacos of course! Yes, I said Fish Tacos. Warm tortillas filled with filet's of Mahi Mahi, cilantro-ific slaw, avocados, and spicy sauce. It's a trip to Baja, California with every bite. I don't care if it matches the Nutella cheesecake in calories, it's delicious! Go ahead. Call me nuts!

Sunday dinner with my brother, cousins and hungry husband was the perfect opportunity for me to take them on a very quick trip to the West coast with Baja-style fish tacos. It is super easy and with a few adjustments, quite healthy. You can use Mahi Mahi, Sole, Haddock or any other white fish really. I based my version on a few recipes that I researched but here is an exact recipe from Epicurious. 

I seasoned the fish (sole) with Adobo seasoning (you can buy it from the supermarket pre-mixed) and grilled it in the oven. Sure, you can fry it as well but really isn't necessary. In a separate bowl, I mixed one bag of coleslaw-style shredded cabbage with a few tablespoons of chopped cilantro and green onions. Added olive oil, cider vinegar, lime juice, salt and pepper. Set it aside to rest. The key ingredient is the chipotle sauce which is super easy to make. I combined mayo, chipotle sauce (store bought), cilantro and lime juice. You can adjust how much spice you want according to your taste buds but those are the only ingredients you need. 


The best part of this (aside from eating) is it's fun for the guests to put together their own tacos. I chopped up some avocados, cilantro, tomatoes and laid it all out. The boys spread some chipotle sauce on the warm tortillas, added the slaw, topped it with the fish, avocados, salsa, more cilantro and more chipotle sauce. So easy to make and incredibly flavourful and delicious. One of my cousins is NOT a fan of fish and he was very concerned that I was making these tacos but he quickly realized, there is nothing "fishy" about this dish.  So even your most discriminating eater will love the taste.

As if the fish tacos weren't a picture of health, I also made a raw kale salad to start. Whole Foods has the best raw baby kale salad and I've tried to replicate their recipe as much as possible. It only requires a few ingredients but delivers a wonderful savoury taste.

All you need is a bunch or two of baby kale, 7-8 slices of sun-dried tomatoes, 1/3 cup chopped dried cranberries and pine nuts. I actually ran out of pine nuts so used blanched almonds but I won't lie, pine nuts work way way better. The dressing is also really simple. 1/2 cup olive oil, 1 table spoon of lime juice, 1.5 table spoons of lemon juice (I like it it tart), plus salt and pepper. Whisk together and pour all over the thinly chopped kale. I highly recommend you toss the kale and the dressing together with your hands because you want every leaf to be covered. Let it stand in the fridge for 20 minutes then add the sliced sun- dried tomatoes, chopped cranberries and the pine nuts and enjoy! You will feel like a million bucks eating a bowl of this salad.

Both the kale salad and the fish tacos got the thumbs up from four very hungry men. I couldn't be more satisfied having fed them a healthy and tasty meal. Sure, I may not be living in Baja California, but fish tacos and raw kale salad are definitely reasons to consider a move to the West coast.

Enjoy!

Foodie Wife