Tacos are my absolute favorite food. I love how versatile they can be. You can mix and match proteins, tortillas, toppings, etc. and they always turn out great. I love this recipe because they are super flavorful without a lot of effort. Don't get me wrong, I love a good slow-cooked pork taco (maybe someday I'll share that recipe) but I let the prepared chipotle sauce do the work in the flavor department here. Brook trout have a pretty mild flavor, so the fish really soaks up all the spicy goodness in this recipe.
I chose to sous vide the trout, but I think this recipe would work if you chose to bake or grill the fish instead. Or if you have de-boned filets, you could pan fry them too. The key is to get tender, flaky chunks of fish that you saute with a chopped chipotle pepper, chipotle sauce, and lime juice. The chipotle sauce doesn't have a lot of heat, so you can adjust the spiciness to your liking depending on how much chopped chipotle you add in. One chipotle was just right for the amount of fish I had.
Brook trout are so small that it can take some patience to get the meat off of the bones. But the end result is so worth the effort. Once you mix those tender, flaky morsels into some smoky chipotle sauce, you'll see what I mean.
My one complaint about tacos is that assembly can take a while if you go too crazy with the toppings. Not that I'll ever admit to being guilty of that. Once I started making a slaw to put on tacos, it really upped my taco game. Not only does it save time to make a slaw, it adds extra levels of flavor and texture. It's so good, I might have to dedicate a post to it someday. I like to use a mandoline slicer to get evenly shredded cabbage. I'm in desperate need of a new one, but if I had my wishes, I'd go for this one.
I've been making the same avocado crema recipe for a while now but this time I thought I'd throw some chipotle sauce in there too. Wow! Not only does it have that creamy avocado deliciousness, now there's an added smoky flavor that I never knew was missing. I like to use my mini food processor for small jobs like this sauce.
I love avocado on tacos (and all of the things, tbh) but turning the avocados into a delicious cream sauce makes the tacos a little easier to eat. You still get that avocado flavor without slices of avocado squishing out the end of your taco.
Now onto the tortillas, or taco blankets if you're into dad jokes. If you like to make your own tortillas, good for you! I can never seem to get them to the right size and consistency, but I'll keep trying. In the meantime, I like to buy these tortillas at the grocery store that use a combination of corn and wheat. They are the perfect texture and are very soft and flexible, just like the package says!
All of these delicious components cozy up together in a soft, warm tortilla. Add some ripe, juicy mango, a squeeze of lime, and crumbled cotija for a perfect balance of all the good things you want in a taco. I know it is a bit of a faux pas to serve cheese with fish, but I love the flavor of cotija cheese so much, I choose to break the rules. It may not be the right time of year or even day of the week for these tacos, but I like to live every day like it's taco Tuesday.
Brook Trout Tacos with Chipotle Avocado Crema
Equipment
- sous vide machine
Ingredients
Trout
- 6 brook trout, cleaned and heads removed
- 1 chipotle in adobo sauce, chopped
- 1 can chipotle sauce - 7.26 oz (some will be used in crema)
- 1 lime, juiced
- olive oil
- salt, to taste
Cilantro Lime Slaw
- ½ head savoy cabbage, thinly sliced
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
- 2 green onions, finely chopped
- ¼ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 1 lime zested and juiced
- ½ garlic clove, grated
- ¼ teaspoon jalapeno powder (optional)
- salt and pepper, to taste
Chipotle Avocado Crema
- 1 ripe avocado
- ¼ cup sour cream
- 1 lime juiced
- 2 tablespoon fresh cilantro
- ½ garlic clove, grated
- 2 tablespoon chipotle sauce
- salt and pepper, to taste
Other Ingredients
- 8 corn tortillas
- 1 ripe mango, thinly sliced
- ¼ cup cotija cheese, crumbled
- lime wedges, for serving
Instructions
- Combine cabbage, cilantro, and green onions in a medium bowl. Combine dressing ingredients (sour cream through salt and pepper) in a small bowl. Toss with cabbage mixture until well-coated. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving.
- Preheat sous vide machine to 135°F. Season the insides of the trout with salt. Spoon about 1 teaspoon of chipotle sauce inside the body cavity of each trout. Place trout inside vacuum bag and vacuum seal. Cook in sous vide machine for 30-40 minutes. The higher the temperature, the easier it will be to remove the skin and bones but you risk overcooking the fish. You can also bake the fish or pan fry de-boned filets.
- Combine avocado crema ingredients in food processor. I like to use a mini food processor for small batches of sauce. Blend until smooth. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use. Place a layer of plastic wrap over the sauce so that none of the sauce is exposed to air. This will prevent it from browning.
- When fish is finished in the sous vide machine, remove the fish from the bag. Carefully remove the skin and bones. Place flaked fish into a bowl until ready to use.
- Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add in flaked fish, chopped chipotle, ½ can chipotle sauce, and juice of 1 lime. Stir to combine and heat through. Add more chipotle sauce and chopped chipotle if desired.
- Warm tortillas in a skillet over medium heat. To each tortilla add fish in chipotle sauce, slaw, mango, avocado crema, and cotija cheese. Serve with lime wedges.
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