These Fish Tacos with Apple Fennel Slaw are the perfect customizable meal. Got some extra time to spare? Make homemade tortillas! Feeling the weeknight crunch? Use store-bought! Our inspiration for the recipe this week was a re-watch of the movie, I Love You, Man. That scene where the two leads bond over some amazing fish tacos? I dare anyone to watch it and not crave fish tacos.
For this taco, we wanted to branch out from the standard Baja style. Don’t get me wrong, I love a Baja Fish taco as much as anyone! But we eat a lot of fish tacos, and who wants to eat the same thing all the time? For white fish in Newfoundland, it’s gotta be cod. Cod is King afterall. We kept it simple, just the cod, a bit of flour, salt and pepper, and some hot oil in a frying pan! Easy peasy. Next up is the slaw. We wanted something a bit different, so we went with a classic pairing, apple and fennel. The addition of red cabbage makes it colourful and crunchy, and we dressed it with a simple lemon juice and honey dressing. The classic lime crema is swapped out for lemon because it pairs better with the fennel. Then we whipped out some quick-pickled red onions for a finishing kick of flavour.
Now, we can’t talk about tacos without mentioning the tortilla. Honestly, I know a flour tortilla is the classic fish taco pairing, but we’ve tried this taco just about every way – store-bought flour, homemade flour, and store-bought corn, and whatever you’ve got works! I followed a wonderful recipe from Confetti and Bliss. I still need a bit of work on my tortilla-making skills…as you can see from the images, they’re not very round. I’ve made a few batches now, and though they’re very tasty, they aren’t exactly pretty…I’ll get it one of these days!!
Happy Mother’s Day Everyone! Maybe make mom some tacos if you procrastinated and don’t have any plans. And as always, let us know if you try our recipes and what you thought! Comment here or on the gram. Ps. Any tortilla-making tips welcome!
Fish Tacos with Apple Fennel Slaw
Ingredients
For the Fish Tacos
- 1.5 lbs fresh cod or other white fish, cut into strips
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 tsp salt & pepper
- 1/4 cup avocado oil or favourite vegetable oil
- 12 tortillas homemade or store-bought
- sliced avocado
Apple Fennel Slaw
- 1 large firm apple eg. honeycrisp, cut into matchsticks
- 1 fennel bulb cored and sliced very thinly
- 1 cup shredded red cabbage
- 1 tbsp honey
- juice of 1 lemon
- salt to taste
Lemon Crema
- 1/2 lemon juiced and zested
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt
- 1 tbsp hot sauce such as cholula
- salt to taste
Quick Pickled Red Onions
- 1 small red onion thinly sliced into rings
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1/2 tsp honey
- 1/4 cup water
Instructions
- For the pickled red onion, combine vinegar, honey, salt and water into a small mason jar and microwave until the salt and honey are dissolved, or heat in a saucepan then transfer to a jar. Add the red onion, being sure to submerge under the liquid. Let sit at room temp 1 hour, then refrigerate. Leftovers will keep several days in the fridge.
- To make the slaw, combine all ingredients in a large bowl, toss to combine and season to taste with salt. To make the crema, combine all ingredients into a small bowl, mix to combine and season to taste with salt.
- Preheat 2 frying pans over medium heat, one dry and one with the oil. While the oil is heating, combine the flour, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add the fish strips and lightly toss to coat with flour.
- Once the oil is heated, batch fry the fish for 1-2 minutes per side or until lightly golden and flakey. Avoid crowding the pan for best results. As the fish is frying, warm each tortillas for about 30 seconds per side in the dry skillet and transfer to a clean dish towel, wrapping to keep in the heat.
- Transfer the cooked fish to a paper towel-lined plate, set up an assembly line with the toppings, and begin assembling tacos. Serve immediately and eat quickly before they fall apart!
