Mexican grilled fish tacos aren't so much a recipe as a philosophy of eating and a way of life
There's the protein, fish so fresh it came off the boat that morning
There's the wrapper, freshly made tortillas, and an explosive array of condiments
This is a mahi-mahi filet, and you want to cut it into finger-thick escalope, diagonal slices
to maximize the amount of surface area exposed to the fire. Season the fish on both sides with coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Then a squeeze of fresh lime juice. The seasonings are pretty simple
The fireworks come from the condiments. marinate the fish for 30 to 60 minutes and if you're working outside like i am be sure it's over ice
next the salsa there are literally hundreds perhaps thousands of salsas in mexico today i'm going to
make a salsa from the yucatan called chiltomate the ingredients are simple but the technique may
surprise you. Start with onion, tomato, and fiery habanero chilies, and arrange them directly on the
coals This is an ancient Mexican technique and there nothing like it for imparting a smoky flavor to the vegetables So what you want to do is char the vegetables on all sides It take about two to three minutes per side on the tomatoes
maybe a minute per side on the habanero chilies. The onion will take a little longer, maybe 12 to 15 minutes
And when the vegetables are charred and blackened on all sides, remove them from the fire
Be sure to shake the vegetables to dislodge any ash. And warning, as these habanero chilies roast, they will emit extremely virulent fumes
And let the vegetables rest until cool enough to handle. The traditional device for grinding the vegetables for the salsa is a mola cajete, a lava stone, mortar, and pestle
You can also use a food processor. So, take your roasted vegetables and peel off most of the burnt skin
For a milder chiltomate, seed the chilies. I'm kind of a firebrand when it comes to Mexican salsas
so I'm going to leave the seeds in. So whenever you make a salsa in a food processor
grind the solid ingredients first, running the machine in short bursts. And you can see some of these black spots from the charred tomato skins
Absolutely delicious. Next add chopped fresh cilantro lime juice salt and pepper
Puree the mixture again until smooth. And you just want to taste your chiltomate
Woo! That's a hottie. Serve the chile tomate in the mola cajete
Okay, we have one final preparation, a simple garlic cilantro butter for basting the fish
Here's some melted butter. All you do is add finely chopped garlic
and chopped fresh cilantro. Return the mixture to the heat. and cook until the garlic and cilantro are sizzling
In Mexico, people grill fish not on a grill grate, but in a grill basket
And what you want to do is spray the grill basket with spray oil
or wipe it with an oiled cloth. and now the cool part
place your fish basket directly over the coals cooking time pretty quick
about 3 minutes per side music Baste the fish with the garlic cilantro butter
You never want to touch a basting brush to raw meat or raw fish
last step here is to warm the tortillas
and the beauty of the fish basket you can see there's absolutely no sticking
here are your mexican fish tacos let me show you how to put them together so first tortilla
A piece of grilled mahi-mahi. Then a scoop of guacamole. The recipe's on our website
Crema, which is Mexican sour cream, or you can use conventional sour cream
A sprinkle of shredded cabbage or lettuce. And a spoonful of your fiery chiltomate
Mmm. So sweet. So fresh. And that salsa is like fireworks in your mouth