Halibut Tacos With Mango Salsa

This is a light, refreshing dinner that goes well with a side of brown rice and black beans. The star of this dish is the mango salsa which I picked up from another recipe. Sweet mango is balanced not only by cilantro and chili, but by tart lemon juice and briny mustard seeds. Feel free to substitute mango for whatever fruit happens to be in season. I like to use peaches or apricots when stone fruits are in season and mango or papaya the remainder of the year.

Halibut Tacos With Mango Salsa

3 halibut fillets, 7 oz each

ground cumin, to taste

ground coriander, to taste

1 T olive oil

kosher salt, to taste

fresh ground black pepper, to taste

4 medium size whole grain tortilla shells

a small bunch of cilantro coarsely chopped

- and for the salsa

1 medium to large mango, peeled, seeded and diced

1 T canola oil

1 t brown mustard seeds

1 T fresh lemon juice (reserving an extra 1T, to taste)

1/4 c diced sweet white onion

1 large green or red jalapeno, stemmed, seeded and chopped (reserve some of the seeds for more heat)

1 t salt

To make the salsa

Put oil and mustard seeds in a skillet, cover and heat over medium high.  Allow the mustard seeds to pop and when the popping slows down, remove from heat. When popping has stopped, uncover and let cool. Transfer to a bowl and combine all salsa ingredients.  Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

To prepare the fish, en papillote

Place 3 large squares of parchment paper on 1 large shallow baking dish. Place each fillet in the center of each piece of paper and season with cumin, coriander, salt and pepper. A light dusting of each seasoning will do.  Bring the ends of the parchment paper lengthwise together over the fish forming a "teepee". Roll away and down and secure with staples. Roll each open end of parchment paper together toward the center and secure with staples, forming an airtight seal. Bake the fish until just cooked through, about 12 minutes depending on the thickness of your fish. The beauty of this cooking method is that your fish will be moist even if you cook it a few minutes longer than necessary.

While fish is cooking, remove salsa from refrigerator if marinating time is complete. Taste and add more lemon juice and/or salt if you like.

Remove baking dish from the oven and tear open each parchment package being careful to avoid the hot steam. Slice each fillet length-wise into strips. With a spatula or tongs, carefully divide the fish among each tortilla shell laying the strips in the center.  Spoon desired amount of salsa over the fish.  Garnish with cilantro. Fold in half and enjoy.

Makes 4 tacos.



Source:  Jill Crusenberry;  salsa adapted from Sunset.