Blackened Tilapia Fish Tacos with Avocado-Jalepeño Crema

I love fish tacos and I have wanted to give a recipe a shot. They seem easy enough to make, and it turns out they are. Further motivation was that I had some Tilapia in the freezer, a left-over 1/3 of jalapeño, left-over fresh cilantro, remaining corn tortillas, and I think you've got the picture by now...I had a lot of left-over ingredients that needed to get used before they went bad. While making this I attempted to video record, then piece together the videos into an iMovie, and obviously I wasn't pleased with the final product. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad, but I know I can't learn from watching someone do it and therefore it felt contrived.

This recipe was very easy to make, just pull all the ingredients needed ahead of time. I also made some brown rice on the side because I wasn't sure how filled I'd be with just the Fish Tacos. I did NOT need the rice and ended up no using it at all. For "dessert" I cut up some fresh pineapple. Talk about the perfect sweet versus tangy citrus combos. Your tastebuds will thank you.

Ingredients:

For the Blackened Tilapia:

• 2 tilapia fillets

• 1 ½ teaspoons smoked paprika

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1 teaspoon dried oregano

• 1 teaspoon onion powder

• ½ teaspoon cumin

• ½ teaspoon salt

• ½ teaspoon brown sugar

• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

• 2 tablespoons coconut oil

• corn tortillas

For the Slaw:

• ½ red cabbage, sliced thin

• ½ medium-sized onion, sliced thin OR 1/2 large shallot

• 1/4 cup cilantro

• Juice of 1/3 lime

• 1 1/2 tsp of lemon juice

• 1/3 cup of Sweet Corn

For the Avocado-Jalepeño Crema:

• ½ cup sour cream

• 1 ripe avocado, pitted and skinned

• ¼ cup cilantro, chopped

• Juice of 1 lime

• 1 jalapeno, chopped and seeded

• Salt, to taste

Additional Ingredients to Garnish:

• Black beans

• Cilantro

• sliced fresh tomatoes

Make It:

• In a small dish, combine the smoked paprika, garlic powder, dried oregano, onion powder, cumin, salt, brown sugar, and cayenne pepper. Sprinkle the mixture over both sides of your tilapia fillets, and then rub the seasonings in.

• Combine all of the Avocado-Cilantro Sauce ingredients in a food processor or blender (I used my magic bullet). Pulse until well-combined.

• Combine all of the Slaw ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.

• Heat the coconut oil in a pan over medium-high heat. The original recipe calls for a deep pan, but I had a large copper coated pan. I think either type of pan would work just as well. Once heated, add in the tilapia. I fit both tilapia filets in the pan, because keep in mind once they start cooking they'll shrink.

• Cook for 4-5 minutes on each side, or until the outside starts to darken and the fish flakes apart easily. I then just broke the fish apart in the pan and mixed it around to get all of the spices on it. Remove the fish from the heat, and if desired, warm the corn tortillas in the same skillet over medium heat, cooking for about 30 seconds on each side.

• Serve on the tortillas in twos and top with Slaw, black beans, fresh tomatoes, cilantro, Avocado-Cilantro Sauce.

• Serve.