Tangy Grilled (Opah) Fish Tostadas: Healthy and On the Table in Minutes

This has not been a cooking week for me. I am putting in some major hours on a work project so lunches have mainly been eaten out of the house and dinners have been consisting of reheating Sunday's corn soup. (I'm not complaining it is fabulous soup!) But, it is Turn on the Grill week at I Heart Cooking Clubs so I had to represent. Looking for something fast and easy, I found a grilled variation of Classic Seviche Tostadas in Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen. 

More a suggestion than a recipe, Tangy Grilled Fish Tostadas can be tossed together very quickly if you grab a couple of convenience items like vegetarian refried black beans, shredded cabbage slaw mix and jarred salsa (in this case Rick Bayless's Frontera  brand).  It's dinner on the table in less than 20 minutes, healthy and very tasty.

Tangy Grilled Fish Tostadas

Adapted from Rick Bayless's Mexican Kitchen

(Makes 4)

Rick Bayless says, "You can do a modern seviche-style preparation by grilling your fish (choose flaky fish that can be cooked all the way through without getting dry--snapper, mahimahi, sea bass), then breaking it up and mixing it with the salsa, a couple tablespoons of fresh lime juice and salt to taste."

4 corn tortillas 

2 Tbsp olive oil

juice of one lime, plus extra for squeezing over tostadas

1 tsp dried Mexican oregano

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1 lb fresh fish fillets (I used opah), sliced into strips

1/2 cup vegetarian refried black beans

1 package coleslaw or shredded cabbage mix

1 large ripe avocado, peeled, pitted and thinly sliced

1/2 cup salsa (Rick recommends his Chopped Tomato-Serrano Salsa--I used his jarred Frontera Roasted Tomato Salsa)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees place a cooling rack on a baking sheet and lay the tortillas out in a single layer. Cover with a second inverted cooling rack to keep the tortillas from curling as they bake. Toast until thoroughly crisp, about 10 to 15 minutes. Set aside.

Meanwhile, mix olive oil, lime juice, oregano, salt and pepper in a bowl. Place fish in bowl and evenly coat with mixture.

Heat a grill pan over high high until just at the smoking point. Place fish on the pan and cook until done, turning once--halfway through. (My opah took about 4 minutes per side.) 

Divide beans and spread over tortillas. Top with with shredded cabbage, avocado slices, and fish. Spoon salsa on top and serve with wedges of lime. 

Notes/Results: Yum! I don't grill, but I love my grill pan--especially for fish. You can't see the grill marks  on the fish too well in the photos, but they are there and the fish was perfectly moist and tender. Opah (moonfish), is so mild and sweet--it is my favorite local fish for tacos.The Frontera salsa has good flavor and I like the simple ingredient list (tomatillos, tomatoes, filtered water, onions, garlic, chipotle chiles, salt, evaporated cane juice, spices). Fresh is always best of course, but it will do nicely in a pinch.  An easy warm weather dinner that I will make again.

You can check out what the other IHCC participants fired up the grill for by going to the post and following the links. 

Happy Aloha Friday!