Fish Tacos with Creamy Dill Sauce and Pico de Gallo

Can't think,

Brain numb,

Inspiration

Won't come.

Poor ink,

Bad pen,

That's all,

Amen.

     I think I was in the second grade when I got the book A Rocket in My Pocket for Christmas. I read it cover to cover until the covers literally came off. Strangely enough, I can still probably recite every poem in it almost fifty years later. (I didn't just say that did I?) I'm sharing this poem with you from that book both in honor of National Poetry Month, and also because it's a true sentiment this morning!

     My mom was gifted with some beautiful fresh Rockfish fillets last week, and she shared some with me. I had earlier bookmarked two similar recipes for fish tacos, one on A Sweet Pea Chef and the other on Allrecipes. I scrambled them both up and came up with this version. I'm not guaranteeing that these are authentic, but they sure tasted good! And besides, they say that fish is brain food- just sayin'.

Fish Tacos with Creamy Dill Sauce and Pico de Gallo
adapted from A Sweet Pea Chef and Allrecipes

You will need:
1-2 lb. of fish fillets (recipe follows)
8-10 corn or flour tortillas
Pico De Gallo (recipe follows)
White Dill Sauce (recipe follows)
1/2 small head of cabbage thinly sliced (or cole slaw mix)

Creamy Dill Sauce
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup mayonnaise
juice of one lime
1/2 of a jalapeno pepper, finely diced
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. dried dill (or use fresh if you have it)
1/2 tsp. cayenne (or to taste)
1/2 tsp. salt
In small bowl, mix together yogurt and mayonnaise. Stir in the lime juice. Stir in seasonings. Cover and refrigerate until needed.

Pico de Gallo
1/2 lb. grape or small cherry tomatoes, quartered
1/2 jalapeno pepper, finely diced
1/2 small red onion, diced
1 avocado, diced
small handful of cilantro (or to taste), chopped
juice of one lime
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. ground cumin
1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
Combine all ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Cover and refrigerate until needed.

Fish
1-2 lb. fish fillets cut into 2-3 oz. portions (I used rockfish, but any mild firm white fish would be a good choice.)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup stone ground corn meal
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cayenne
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1 egg beaten with 2 Tablespoons water
Peanut or Canola oil for frying
In shallow bowl, mix together flour, corn meal, salt, cayenne and pepper. Dip fish pieces into egg mixture. Lightly coat with flour mixture.
Pour oil into medium skillet to a depth of about 1/4 inch. Place prepared fish into hot oil then reduce temp. to medium-high. Fry until golden brown on both sides. (approximately 5 minutes, depending on the size of your fish chunks)When fish are done, remove to paper towel lined plate to drain.

To assemble tacos:
On heated tortilla, place one or two pieces of fish. Spoon Dill sauce over fish. Top with Pico de Gallo and shredded cabbage.