fish & chips challenge

Abandoning my English heritage (alright, those ancestors came here 200, even 300 years ago…) to bow to our proximity to Baja; my guys & I would much rather eat pescado y papas fritas tortillas fritas TOSTITOS® SCOOPS!®.
They don’t really like this local jointand their palate is not “refined” enough to enjoyKristen’s choice of ingredients for the June Improv Challenge offered a little chance to think “outside the basket” for a recipe. Our favorite place to eat fish is soooooooo far away……but we often try to revisit the flavors. So today, I wanted to create a Baja-style fish & “chips” recipe. (I’d much rather wrap the fish in a fresh, warm, corn tortilla; but decided to stick with the “chip” theme and make a little less work in my hot kitchen…)So actually, we’ve got a couple recipes for the price of one today: the dry rub for the fish, the chipotlé crema for the cabbage, and the mango pico de gallo.
For the dry rub you’ll need:

• 1Tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
• olive oil

Stir the dry ingredients together. Drizzle the oil over the fish. (For this meal I used about a pound and a half of halibut.) Sprinkle with the rub & work lightly into the fish. Cover until grilling time!Earlier in the day I made my shredded cabbage with chipotlé crema:

• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup mayonaise
• 1 teaspoon Chipotlé Tabasco
• juice from 1/2 lime (1-2 liquid oz.)
• 4 cups finely shredded cabbage

Blend together all but the cabbage. Then pour over cabbage & mix well. Chill until ready to serve.And, even earlier in the day I made the mango pico de gallo:

• 1 jalapeño pepper
• 2 ripe mangos
• juice from 2 limes
• 6 roma tomatoes
• 4-5 cloves garlic
• 6 green onions
• 1/4 cup cilantro leaves
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

(Make sure you adjust your ingredients according to your personal salsa taste. We don’t like a lot of cilantro, but love garlic & lime…) Finely chop & stir together.After the hubs got home, the grill was lit & the fish put on after the pre-heat.I set up the little tortilla cups on my platter.Filled the bottom with grilled fish.Added the chipotlé crema/cabbage mixture.Spooned a bit of the mango pico, and then topped them with an avocado slice.mmmmmmmmmmm – so delish!My boys got tired of the taco that disappeared in one bite, so we wrapped theirs up in a flour tortilla.I tell you – I love it when dinner can be cooked outdoors!
Check out the other fish & chips interpretations in the links below: