Taco Night

Taco night – if the salty ground beef, flavorless shredded cheese, and boring salsa is left at the store – is one of the most fun and easiest ways to celebrate freshness and flavor.

Who doesn’t love assembling their own dinner every now and then? It’s an adventure… a statement of independence… an appeal to the love all Americans have for feeling in control while doing little actual work.

It’s also a great way to ensure that those of us who want to bite into a fiery taco don’t destroy the dinner and nasal passages of those of us who can’t handle the heat.

My taco table includes: grilled tilapia, grilled skirt steak, guacamole, red onion, lettuce, tomato, spicy spicy salsa, chipotle mayo, limes, and corn tortillas. It’s an impressive spread that looks and sounds like a lot of work but is secretly a lot easier than most dinners.

After setting everything out on the table, I encourage (forcefully) everyone to top their tilapia or steak with a little bit of everything (yes, you need salsa and chipotle mayo) and then dig in. This dinner is a winner.

Serves 5

Grilled Tilapia

• 1 1/2 pounds of tilapia
• Juice of one lemon
• 1/2 tbl spoon of honey
• 1/2 cup of olive oil
• Salt and Pepper

1. Marinade the tilapia in the lemon, honey, and olive oil for one hour.
2. Season both sides with salt and pepper.
3. Grill over medium-high for 4 minutes on each side or until the fish is done.
4. Cut into smaller pieces.

Whoa Salsa

• 4 tomatoes quartered
• 3 jalapenos
• 1 yellow onion quartered
• 3 cloves of garlic
• Juice of two limes
• 1 tablespoon of Tabasco sauce
• Salt

1. Throw everything except two tomatoes and the salt in the blender.
2. Blend until well pureed.
3. Add the two tomatoes.
4. Only briefly blend so that the tomatoes do get cut up but the salsa stays chunky.
5. Add salt to taste.

Grilled Skirt Steak

• 1 pound of skirt steak
• 1 cup of orange juice
• 1 cup of whoa salsa (from above)
• Salt and pepper

1. Preheat your grill so that it’s about 600 degrees.
2. Marinade the steak in the orange juice and salsa for at least 3 hours.
3. Season both sides with salt and pepper.
4. Grill over high heat for 6-8 minutes. Do not cover the grill.
5. Let the meat rest for 10 minutes (this is a good time to throw your tilapia on).
6. Slice the steak against the grain. This is really really important with skirt steak. Click here for  a great explanation if you don’t know how to.

Chipotle Mayo

• 3.5 ounces of chipotles in adobo sauce
• 1 cup of mayo
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 cup of cilantro

1. Blend it all together.

Guacamole

• 2 ripe avocados
• 1/2 diced small yellow onion
• 1 diced plus tomato
• 1/2 cup of diced cilantro
• Juice of two limes
• Salt

1. Mash the avocado until it’s soft and creamy.
2. Add lime juice, onion, tomato, and cilantro and mix together.
3. Salt to taste.

Dice the red onion and tomato. Thinly slice the lettuce. Quarter the limes. Grill the corn tortillas for a few minutes to warm them up.

And you’re done! Enjoy.