Fish Tacos – Cast a Spell

My husband John always orders the Fish Tacos – Cast a Spell when we go out. I only began eating them when we discovered a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant in a mall in Ridgway in the foothills of the Western San Juans called Land and Ocean. How do red snapper tacos with a lime-juice dressed cabbage slaw and some guacamole taste? Simply fabulous. 

Today our simple recipe features codfish and La Brujería “the spell,” which is the handmade spice and salt mixture from another great Colorado restauranteur: Xicamiti La Taquería, in Golden. My sister, Sarah, who gifted me a bottle of it, recently spoke with the owner/chef of Xicamiti La Taqueria, Walter Meza. If you can’t get to the restaurant to buy a bottle, you can try making your own using dried chipotle chiles, roasted chipotles, roasted garlic, roasted onion and salt. They use it on everything at Xicamiti. This is a truly bewitching blend!

Sprinkle it on Like Fairy Dust

So, like fairy dust, we sprinkle La Brujería into our marinade along with lime juice and olive oil, drop in the codfish, then 15 minutes later our slaw is made, our grill is hot and dinner is almost ready! This dish is prepared and grilled so quickly make sure your table and plates are ready because these tacos need to be eaten as soon as they come off the grill. 

Fish Tacos – Cast a Spell

Serves 3; Preparation time: 15 minutes; Grilling time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 12 oz. codfish
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• Juice of one lime
• 2 teaspoons La Brujería spice mix (homemade recipe above)
• 1 ½ cups shredded cabbage
• ¼ cup chopped fresh tomato
• 1 scallion sliced thinly (I used the tops of my seedling onions!)
• ½ teaspoon cumin
• Salt and pepper
• Avocado, for garnish
• 6 small flour or corn tortillas 

Directions

1. In a glass pie plate, whisk together oil, ½ the lime juice and the La Brujería spice mix. 
2. Cut codfish into 1 in.x 3 in. pieces and place in marinade. Marinate for 15 minutes, turning every five minutes to coat with marinade. 
3. Then while the fish is marinating, pre-heat your grill.
4. Prepare the slaw: Combine cabbage, scallion/onion, cumin, and the other 1/2 of the lime juice. Toss and season with salt and pepper to taste and toss again. (Add a chopped jalapeño to your slaw if you like it hot.) Place the slaw on three plates and top with chopped tomato. Add a few slices of avocado to each plate. Set your favorite salsa on the table. 
5. Next remove the fish from the marinade and place in one long layer on aluminum foil. Take to the grill on a platter. Slide codfish on foil from platter onto grill fish and cook on high heat for 5 minutes on each side, depending on the thickness of the fish. During the final two minutes of the grilling, place the tortillas on the grill to soften and heat them. 
6. Then remove tortillas from grill and spread them out on your platter. Remove fish from foil on grill and evenly distribute the fish among the six tortillas. Serve immediately.

Here’s another delish FFA recipe with which to use up your codfish!