Fish Tacos with Watermelon Corn Salsa
July 18, 20117 by Nicole Collins
Happy Taco Tuesday!!!
It's been a while since I've given you a taco recipe, but have no fear. The wait is over!
Speaking of over, can you believe that summer is half over already? Like, where has the time gone?!?
I feel like this summer has been super busy. How about you? Have you guys been up to anything fun? Any good vacations on the books?
I've been keeping my weekends pretty busy, but this past weekend was especially eventful. I currently have vacationing on the brain big time, because this past weekend I went to a timeshare presentation. Have you ever been to one of those? It's REALLY hard to say no!
So, here's what happened...apparently I signed up for something at a festival I went to, and I “won” a prize. But, while I was “picking up my prize”, I had to listen to a 1 ½ -2 hour presentation. Well, the prize was 4 free plane tickets to a choice of 31 destinations worldwide, so I thought “sure, that's worth 2 hours of my time.”
In reality, I gave them 3 hours of my life, and there were some stipulations that they were not quite upfront about in the beginning; but at the end of the day, I did walk out with those 4 plane vouchers. That's the VERY cliffs notes version of the experience, of course. But, the moral of this story is that now I'm planning a trip to ITALY!
I've barely been off the east coast, so I'm definitely going BIG on my first major trip! And I couldn't be more excited!!
But, what I also wasn't expecting about my experience this weekend is that I totally want to be a part of this vacation club program I heard about. Buying in will guarantee me some awesome vacations pretty much til the end of time, so maybe one day I'll be having my summer vacations year round! Who could be mad about that?
So while I'm on my summertime high, let's talk about these tacos. Today's recipe is PERFECT for summertime!
Fish tacos are a classic summertime treat, but the salsa is where it's at with these. I mean, Watermelon Corn Salsa...umm yes PLEASE!
We start by lightly dusting our tilapia with a spice mix of flavors that belong in every taco: cumin, paprika, and chili powder. Though, we're stepping it up a notch by using chipotle chili powder today. I love the extra little smoky notes it brings to the table. We roast the fish, then get ready to introduce it to it's new best friend...
Watermelon Corn Salsa...
We take summer's favorite fruit, dice it up, toss in some fresh roasted corn, red onion, jalapeno, and cilantro, then give it some lime juice to drink, and season with a touch of salt. It couldn't be easier, and it truly could not be tastier!
The salsa does best served right away though. That watermelon got it's name for a reason! A lot of juices gather at the bottom of the bowl if it sits too long; so feel free to keeps all of your chopped salsa components stored separately, and mix them up when you're ready to serve.
To bring our taco together, we toss everything in a flour tortilla, top it with some crumbled feta, and BAM! Flavor explosion in your mouth. The salty feta with the sweet corn and watermelon, plus the teeny kick from the jalapeno and chipotle powder...it doesn't get much better than that.
Unless you're eating this taco while you're on vacation...
Or in Italy... :-)
No matter how or where you're eating this, you'll certainly be a happy camper when you're finished.
So, enjoy. And, let's eat!
Fish Tacos with Watermelon Corn Salsa
Serves: 4 Print
Ingredients:
For the Fish:
24 oz tilapia filets (thawed if frozen)
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
½ tsp paprika
¼ tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp chipotle chili powder
¼ tsp cumin
olive oil cooking spray
For the Salsa:
1 ear of corn, roasted and kernels cut off the cob
2 cups watermelon, diced
¼ cup finely diced red onion
¼ cup cilantro, chopped
½ of a jalapeno, finely diced
1 tsp agave, optional
¼ tsp salt
For Serving:
8-12 6 inch flour tortillas
2 oz crumbled feta
Directions:
Roast the Fish: Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line a sheet tray with foil, and spray with olive oil cooking spray. Place tilapia filets on the pan, and spritz the top side of the fish with olive oil cooking spray. Combine the spices in a small bowl. Season both sides of the fish with spice mix, rubbing spices in to the flesh with your fingers. Roast for 6-8 minutes until cooked through and the fish flakes easily with a fork.
Meanwhile, make the Salsa: Combine all salsa ingredients in a bowl, and stir to mix. Set aside.
To assemble: Divide fish between taco shells. Top with salsa and crumbled feta. Serve.
Recipe notes:
*To roast the corn, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the corn still in the husk on a sheet pan. Roast for 30 minutes. Set aside to cool. When cool to the touch, remove husk and cut kernels off cob. You could absolutely use thawed frozen corn if you wanted to, but there's nothing like the taste of fresh corn.
*I'm generally a 2 tacos per serving kind of gal, but there's so much goodness in these tacos, you might need to go with 3! You could also just buy a larger taco shell. I made it fit in 2 taco shells, but eating it was not very ladylike.
*My watermelon was not super sweet, so I added some agave syrup to bring out the natural sweetness. Feel free to leave it out if you've got an extra sweet watermelon.
*I chose to roast my tilapia in the oven so I could work on other things while it was cooking, but you could certainly pan sear it too.
