Fish Tacos

Anyone who had talked with me about the move out here at great lengths would have found out that one of the things I was excited about was getting to try fish tacos.  It was actually one of the first things I ate when we arrived.  It was the first time I had ever had them, and I knew I was hooked.  I've been delaying trying to make them.... for no particular reason, but I figure this would be my last weekend in this apartment before I move out this week, so nows an ideal time to make fish as I won't need to worry about the place smelling like it for weeks.

Right off the bat, the presentation doesn't look appealing..... but the taste was pretty great.  I could eat like 40 of these bad boys.

Since it's a bunch of small little things that go into these I won't really break out the ingredients and instructions by item like I usually do.  (Ha usually... I've only made like 4 meals thus far).

Three pieces of "fresh" Tilapia fish ( I quote the fresh as I bought it at Ralph's and they claim fresh, but who really knows)
Salt and pepper
Iceberg lettuce
Tomatos
Small onion
Green and orange peppers
Lime juice
Cilantro
Avocados
Water cress
Mozzarella cheese
Small tortila shells

First off cooking the fish.  I oiled up a pan with some peanut oil and made sure it was nice and hot before throwing in the fish which had been seasoned with the salt and pepper.  I cooked the fish about 80% on the first side before flipping, in hopes of getting a nice brown for the presentation.... but it stuck a bit to the pan and brown didn't really flip well, so the fish mostly just looks white.  Not a big deal.

The salsa I kinda messed up a bit.  I diced up the ingredients (tomatos, onions, peppers) but probably went a little too fine with the tomatos and onions, so when I mixed it all together including the cilantro and lime juice, it kinda went all mushy and runny...  luckily the pepper cubes were kinda bigger to give it some thickness.  Still good though.  I was thinking of having whole avocados for the tacos, but changed my mind when I cut them up... as I did a bit of a hack job.  Instead I mushed them together with some of the lime juice to make a nice avocado paste.

Shredding the lettuce and the cheese wasn't too difficult as you have probably already guessed.  I know typically for fish tacos you're supposed to use cabbage... but I don't like cabbage.  So iceberg lettuce ftw.

Assembling the tacos together was a breeze, simply layered on some lettuce, fish, salsa, avocado paste, cheese a some chopped watercress for show.  I did season with a little salt and pepper.  And voila, my first attempt at some fish tacos.

On a side note, the fish tacos I've had already in LA, they actually battered and fried the fish, which was totally amazing.  I didn't do that this time as I was attempting to make this a slightly healthier meal, but for my next attempt, I would totally batter and fry it.