Recipe #17 - Fish Taco Feast

If you're feeding a crowd, a make-your-own-taco feast is a good way to go. For just us, it's almost always fish as the primary protein filling, but at times we find ourselves feeding a lot of folks with different tastes and diets (not to mention varying tolerances for seafood). In those instances, we offer up spicy shredded chicken, taco-spiced ground beef, even chipotle-marinated fried tofu.

Some of our favorite things to have with fish tacos are homemade guacamole, black beans, Mexican rice, lime-chipotle sour cream and different types (and heat) of salsas. But the possibilities are endless.

Keep in mind that although this particular recipe uses ahi tuna, that's merely a reflection of what we used the last time we fixed this dish (which happens to be, um, last night). Feel free to substitute halibut, tilapia, salmon, shrimp, cod, snapper, or whatever you like. It's all good...

Makes four servings.

8 small taco size flour tortillas

1 lb. sushi-grade fresh & wild ahi tuna
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. Chile powder
Salt & pepper

1.5 cups grated cheddar or Mexican cheese
16 cherry tomatoes, halved
4 cups shredded romaine lettuce
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
8 fresh lime wedges

Take a large piece of aluminum foil and spray lightly with no-stick spray. Put the tortillas on the foil, splatter lightly with a couple teaspoons of water and enclose the foil tightly. Place the package in a preheated 250-degree oven to warm tortillas while you prepare the tacos.

Place the tuna on a platter and brush with some olive oil. Sprinkle with chile powder, salt and pepper. Turn the fish over and treat the other side the same way.

Preheat the grill and when it's hot, add the tuna. Depending on the thickness of the fish and the heat of the grill you'll probably only want to sear the fish for a minute or two per side. You want the middle of the tuna to be red and rare. Remove the tuna from the grill and allow to "rest" on a platter for a few minutes.

Slice the tuna thinly and set up a "taco station" where you have your warm tortillas, fish, cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, cilantro, lime wedges, and all other extras such as salsas, guacamole, sour cream, etc.

Then stand back and let the feasting begin. Obviously, cold beer (Mexican or otherwise) goes great with a taco feast, or also a cool, crisp and dry white wine to balance out the spicy flavors.