Out of the Box: Guacamole and Esquites with Fish Tacos

By: Amie Simon | August 11 2010
Posted in Seattle - Cook It - Seattle

For some reason, when the weather is warm I want to eat Mexican food all the time. My CSA box this week contained four avocados, an onion and some corn—so I decided to serve up some fish tacos with a few delicious sides for dinner.

Photo: Amie Simon

Simple Guacamole
My guacamole recipe is adapted from my friend Lil's. Until I tried hers, I never knew I liked it, because I'd only had the store-bought variety with mayo and sour cream fillers. This one is just avocados, garlic, and lime juice with a little hot sauce. So easy! I've figured out since then that the reason I hated it before was because you can barely taste the avocado in those pre-mixed tubs.

Trying Esquites
I'd never heard of esquites until some girlfriends and I ordered it at Señor Moose as an appetizer. When I got my ears of corn in this week's delivery box, I decided to use them for something other than grilling and tried my hand at recreating it instead. I cobbled together an approximation (subbing chives for epazote) from a few different recipes I found online. While not exactly like the dish I tried, it was still really good and complemented the tacos and guacamole well.

Ingredients
Guacamole:
3-4 avocados
3 garlic cloves
2 limes
Salt and pepper to taste
Hot sauce to taste

Esquites:
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 yellow or white onion/split
1-2 ears of corn
Handful of fresh chives
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup Queso Fresco
1-2 tablespoons sour cream (optional)

Fish Tacos:
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 yellow or white onion/split
4-6 ounces whitefish
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons mayo
2-3 squeezes fresh lemon juice
Shredded romaine
2-3 sprigs fresh cilantro
Tortillas

Directions
For the guacamole, cut avocados in half and scrape out of skins into a large bowl. Chop garlic cloves finely (a press works for this too) and add on top. Slice limes into quarters, squeezing juice into bowl. Add salt and pepper and as many dashes of hot sauce as you like. Mash all together and let sit in the fridge to blend flavors while you prepare the rest.

For the esquites, pour olive oil into large skillet and chop onion, sautéing until golden brown. Reserve about half for fish tacos (you can leave that half in the pan). Take kernels off corncobs using a sharp knife or a corn stripper, and boil for about 5 minutes. Drain and combine with onions, finely chopped chives, and salt and pepper. Sprinkle with Queso Fresco and serve—a sour cream dollop is optional.

Photo: Amie Simon

For the fish tacos, add fillets (I used Pacific Halibut) to the onions in the skillet and salt and pepper. Cook over medium-high heat until fish is flaky all the way through. While fish is cooking, slice a lemon and add 2-3 good squeezes of lemon juice to mayo for a tangy sauce. Layer fish over shredded romaine, drizzling with sauce and topping with cilantro.

On hot summer days, this meal goes perfectly with a big pitcher of ice-cold, homemade sangria!