Surf Tacos with Grapefruit Pico de Gallo
Ingredients
Fish Sauce
- 8 oz crème fraîche (or sour cream)
- 4 tbsp garlic powder
- 2 tbsp sriracha
- 2 tbsp dried oregano
- juice form ½ lemon (about 2 tbsp)
Pico de Gallo & Guacamole
- 4 roma tomatoes (diced smalle)
- ½ yellow onion (diced)
- fresh cilantro (chopped)
- 1 jalapeño (diced small)
- juice from 1 lime
- salt & pepper
- cumin
- 1 ruby red grapefruit (cut into segments (no pith or membrane) and chopped)
- 2 avocados
- ½ tsp onion powder
- 2 cups red cabbage (chopped, reserve half for serving tacos)
- tortilla chips
Fish
- 6 tilapia filets (about 16 oz (or use any fish of your choice))
- ¼ tbsp salt
- ½ tbsp celery salt
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- ½ tsp ground mustard
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp brown sugar
- ½ tsp white pepper (black pepper is a good substitute)
- pinch of nutmeg
- pinch of cinnamon
- tortillas
- cotija (for garnish)
- lime wedges (for garnish)
- sliced radishes (for garnish)
Directions
Fish Sauce
- Make the fish sauce first so it has time to sit before serving. Simply combine all ingredients and put in a sealed container in the fridge until ready to serve
Pico de Gallo & Guacamole
- In a mixing bowl, combine diced tomatoes, diced onion, chopped cilantro and diced jalapeño. Top with a hefty squeeze of fresh lime juice and season with salt, pepper and ground cumin
- For the grapefruit pico, take a quarter of the mixture and place into a smaller bowl and mix in chopped grapefruit
- For the guacamole, mash up the two avocados in a separate bowl and take another quarter of the original pico mixture and mix in with the avocados
- To finish the pico de gallo, add 1 cup of the chopped cabbage and onion powder to the original pico bowl
- Cover all three bowls, and place in the fridge until ready to serve
Fish
- Preheat oven to 425°F
- Combine all spices together to make the seasoning. OR use Old Bay seasoning – this was my original plan but I couldn't find it in two of the grocery stores I checked so I made due with what I had
- Pat the tilapia filets dry with a paper towel and season with seasoning to your desired taste
- Bake in the oven until flaky – about 10-15 minutes depending on the size of your filets
- While the fish is cooking, warm your tortillas on the stovetop if you'd like and keep warm in a kitchen town or aluminum foil
Serve
- Serve the tacos with remaining red cabbage, fish, grapefruit pico de gallo, fish sauce, cotija and a fresh squeeze of lime juice. Enjoy the guac and cabbage pico de gallo with tortilla chips!
Surf tacos have always been a favorite! My preference is to use roasted tilapia as opposed to a breaded, fried fish. It’s fresh and pairs amazingly with grapefruit pico and sriracha sauce. There’s a lot of steps when it comes to making the cabbage pico, grapefruit pico, guac and tacos. Always start with the dips. This way, you’ll have something to snack on while the fish is cooking!
There’s a Mexican restaurant, Mi Pueblo, in Newport that we used to go to when I was growing. They had the best surf tacos and chicken enchiladas! It was the only Mexican restaurant that was within an hour of our house and the food was amazing! it still is! They serve their pico with shredded cabbage so I always thought that was how everyone did it. Imagine my disappointment when this turned out not to be true. I like to use red cabbage to add rich color to the pico as well as the tacos. There are rumors that red cabbage holds more nutritional value than green, but I’m not the person to ask about that. I simply use it because it’s beautiful.
In addition to all the chip dipping opportunities, I always like to enjoy a margarita with my tacos!