Fish tacos, Cayman style

One of my favorite places in the world is Grand Cayman Island, where I spent my honeymoon last year.  I had the opportunity to go back again this March, and it's been firmly cemented as not only one of my favorite vacation spots, but my favorite dive location as well.  The place that we always eat first when going to the island (and usually visit several more times throughout the stay) is a little resort called Sunshine Grill, made famous by their fish tacos and their Painkiller cocktails.

First island beverage of our honeymoon

The fish tacos at Sunshine are impossible to beat, mainly because it's the whole experience and not just the food - but, it's worth trying to replicate, in taste alone.  I have now gone through three separate fish taco recipes, and I think the one I made this week takes the cake for being my favorite thus far. There's no mahi-mahi in the seafood section here to speak of, so I substitute tilapia, but I truly feel it's the toppings that make the dish in this case. 


I borrowed from two separate Food Network recipes to make this dish. As usual, I make modifications to make it slightly more healthy without sacrificing taste. I will also point out that this is a great time of year to make the mango salsa that goes with this dish - the mangoes I'm able to get in Indiana this week are just as sweet as the ones I'd be eating in my backyard back home in Florida right now. 


Last note before the recipes - this is a time consuming recipe because there's a lot of prep work involved. If you want to cut down the amount of prep work, I recommend using a food processor to make your salsa...it will be a smoother consistency than what I picture here, but you'll save a great deal of chopping time.


There are three elements to this dish - an adobo and chipotle sauce, a mango-radish salsa, and cilantro, chili, and jalapeno tilapia.  Let's start with the first two, because once they are prepared, they can go into the fridge until it's time to serve.


You'll need: Two good knives (chef's and paring), large cutting board, measuring cups, measuring spoons, a food processor or blender, a large baking dish, and a large skillet (I use a cast iron skillet to get a nice crust on the fish)


Adobo and Chipotle Sauce
1 cup light sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise (I use Hellman's mayo with olive oil)
2-3 chipotles in adobo sauce*
2 tablespoons of adobo sauce
1/2 lemon, juiced
Salt and pepper to taste


*If you like your sauces spicy, use three chipotles and 2 T of sauce - I personally used 2 chipotles and 1 T of adobo...KPH Junior likes spicy, but not that spicy :)


Use a food processor to puree the chipotles until smooth. Add the sour cream, mayo, adobo sauce, and lemon juice and process in a food processor (or blender) until the mixture is creamy and smooth.  Add salt and pepper to taste, if needed, then refrigerate for the time being. If you find your sauce is too spicy, you can add more sour cream or mayo to cool it down.


Mango-Radish Salsa*
2 limes
2 mangoes, diced
4-5 radishes
1 red onion, diced
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro, leaves chopped
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste


*Since it's just me and John eating this, I cut the recipe in half - however, if you're serving more than two or you love salsa, make the full recipe - the salsa also tastes delicious with chips. Recommended - Tostitos with lime :)


First thing - cut the limes into quarters and peel or cut off the peels.  Section the limes with your fingers, removing the pith (the white membrane between the fruit and peel) and the membranes (the skin between the lime sections).  Place the limes sans peel, membrane, and pith into your salsa bowl, and squeeze the juice left over from the discarded parts over the juicy lime bits. 


(I really should have taken a picture of this, because explaining it doesn't really do justice to how stubborn the lime is when it comes to being peeled. The lime prefers to be squeezed into a Grey Goose and tonic and then left alone in the glass, but this isn't the time or the place for such things.)


Next up - the mango! How to cut a mango in the easiest way possible? Try this trick. You'll notice that a mango has a large seed in the middle. Cut off the two largest sections on either side of the mango and score it, like so, using a paring knife. 

See the tiny lines? This will help with creating perfect cubes.

Next, "pop" the mango out of the peel, like so:

Using your paring knife, gently cut off the cubes of popped out mango into your dish. With the remaining mango, cut gently off of the seed and dice, making sure to remove all peel!

Next, the onion. I used a little less than half of a red onion, because I am still mildly averse to onion. If you love red onion, by all means, add it to taste! It adds a great crunch and it won't overpower the lime and mango flavor. 

Featured: my lovely knives, quite possibly my favorite kitchen tools

Radishes are up now. I tried to find just three or four, but ended up buying a huge bunch. Koreans love to use radishes in cooking, especially in kimchi, so I've always been a fan of this vegetable. If you're wary about the radish in this recipe - don't be! It's great for the texture and will not change the flavor of the salsa - promise. You'll be pleasantly surprised.  You should dice these babies up the same way you've been dicing up all the other veggies.

Lastly, the cilantro. You'll need more cilantro for the fish marinade, so you might as well chop it all up now. 

Keep chopping - this isn't nearly fine enough!

Add your chili powder and olive oil and stir together, adding salt and pepper if you so desire.  Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Please observe the ever-vigilant Sundance - a dog that will literally eat anything that falls off of the cutting board and waits patiently for the opportunity to do so.

OK. Time to start working on the fish marinade. 

Fish Tacos

1 pound white flaky fish, like mahi-mahi or tilapia

1/4 cup of canola oil

1 lime, juiced

1 tablespoon ancho chili powder (I had to use regular)

1 jalapeno, coarsely chopped

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves

8 flour tortillas

I used a cast iron skillet to make this, but if you want to grill - preheat your grill to medium-high heat. 

Place your fish in your baking dish.  

Columbia...South Carolina? Maryland?  A misspelled version of "Colombia"? I'll never know.
And you wonder why people in the Midwest aren't more wary of seafood.

Whisk together all of your ingredients (except the fish and tortillas, which I'd hope would be obvious...ha), to look something like this...maybe:

At this point, I realize that I've forgotten to add the canola oil, jalapeno, and lime juice, soooo....

Much better. This juicer, by the way? Amazing.

OK. Now pour the marinade over your fish, and let it marinate for about 15-20 minutes. You don't want to marinate fish for too long - the meat is too delicate and with the acid of the lime juice and jalapeno, you don't want to leave it in too much longer than that.

Looks done, but not yet.

I let the heat on my cast iron skillet go up to medium high, which on my gas stove top is roughly 100 degrees cooler than the temperature on the surface of the sun...

About four minutes per side - taking care to be gentle when you flip - and make sure it's cooked through. Flake it onto a serving dish, and serve with adobo chipotle sauce and salsa and warm tortillas!

To warm my tortillas, I heat up a small skillet on medium heat and just warm them through on each side, about 8 seconds per side.

If you chose to grill your fish, you'll want to put them onto a hot grill, flesh side down - grill for four minutes, then flip - let cook another 30 seconds or so, and remove. Let the fish rest for five minutes and flake with a fork.  You can also heat your tortillas on the grill if you so wish.

And, voila.

What can I say, John puts his salsa and sauce on the bottom...still tastes the same :)