Black Sea Bass Tacos with Grill-Roasted Tomatillo Salsa
I've posted a few different types of fish and shrimp tacos here over the past year, but this version with Black Sea Bass fillets (Long Island local at the Windsor Terrace Farmer's Market) and grill-roasted Tomatillo salsa were perhaps my favorite seafood tacos to date. Its hard to go wrong with fresh fish, tomatillos, lime, and cilantro... but still, this was pretty killer.
First up, the salsa. During lunch while i had the grill going for some bratwursts (yum), I coated some red onion, tomatillos, and a jalapeno in a little oil and black pepper, and grilled them over a very hot fire for about 10-15 minutes. I then tossed them into a food processor with lime juice, cilantro, garlic, olive oil, and salt and pepper. Here's a gallery of the process:
I tossed that in the fridge to keep fresh until dinner, and then marinaded the Black Sea Bass in a super simple lime, olive oil, and cilantro mix. This sat in the fridge for about four hours, after which I brought it to room temperature, sprinkled a little kosher salt and ground coriander on top, and pan-fried it in a cast iron skillet for about 3 minutes per side. I then lightly pulled it apart along the natural flaking lines (discarding a few bones as i discovered them), and served it as-is on the table. Honestly i was somewhat amazed at how flavorful this fish was... truly outstanding! A few shots of that process:
So then it was simply a matter of condiments. We picked up some fresh salsa from Union Market, along with sour cream, whole wheat flour tortillas, and also chopped up a little avocado. Assembly is a snap with the only word of caution being "smaller is better." A few shots of the assembly items and the final product:
I also fried up some homemade corn tortilla chips from a batch of corn tortilla's we had in the freezer. Insanely easy to do, and even more insanely delicious. A warm and salty corn chip really, really, really rocks:
- 1 medium red onion, halved and skinned (i had a very large onion on hand, so used about 2/3rds of it)
- 3 tomatillos, husked
- 1 Jalapeno
- 1 clove garlic, skinned
- 4 Tablespoons fresh cilantro
- Juice of 1/2 lime + Juice of 1 lime
- 3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 1 lb Black Sea Bass fillet
- 2 teaspoons canola oil
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
- 6-inch Whole Wheat Flour tortillas (We ate 6 tacos between two of us, finishing just about everything in the process).
- 1 avocado cubed into bite-sized pieces
- Fresh salsa (optional)
- Sour cream (optional)
- Get your grill going to hot*
- Meanwhile coat the red onion, tomatillos, and jalapeno in 1 Tablespoon of the olive oil
- Grill those veggies, turning every 3-4 minutes, for about 15 minutes until lightly charred and starting to ooze juices
- Remove from the grill and core the red onion and jalapeno, discarding the seeds of the jalapeno and stem of the onion
- Place the roasted veggies into a food processor with 1 Tablespoon olive oil, the garlic clove, lime juice from 1/2 lime, and 3 Tablespoons cilantro and blend until smooth (a few chunks are actually nice).
- Season with salt and pepper to taste
For the Black Sea Bass:
- For the marinade, combine the lime juice from the full lime, and remaining 1 Tablespoon olive oil in a deep dish
- Add the fish, and press the cilantro into the fish. Cover and marinate for 2-4 hours.
- Bring a cast iron skillet with the canola oil to medium hot
- Meanwhile bring the fish to room temperature, and sprinkle the salt and coriander on one side
- Pan-fry the fish for about 3 minutes per side (non-spice side first). Both sides of the fish should start to brown before flipping
- Remove to a plate, and lightly pull the fish part along the natural flaking lines to create bite-sized pieces. Keep an eye out for any loose bones and discard.
Assembly: Assembly is really up to your tastes, but as a general guide i assembled the following in a 6-inch tortilla:
- 1/4 cup fish (maybe a little less)
- 1 Tablespoon tomatillo salsa
- 1 Tablespoon avocado cubes
- 2 teaspoons fresh salsa
- 2 teaspoons sour cream
