Recipe: Fish Tacos with Chipotle Mayo & Mango-Lime Salsa

I think by now we’ve come to terms that this is a product review blog (kind of) and I haven’t posted any recipes … until now! It all started when I went to a fantastic restaurant this Saturday called Against the Grain. I had amazing fish tacos, and even though I’ve never had fish tacos before and there was no standard to compare them too, they were quite literally one of the most delicious things I’ve had at a restaurant.

They were so good in fact that I wanted them last night (Sunday) as well and figured I could make a suitable “copycat” recipe. To my surprise I was able to hit the nail right on the head and make a really good re-creation of this awesome dish, so I shall now share it with you and hope you enjoy! Note: I haven’t given measurements as it’s a pretty straight-forward recipe and I think you can portion for however much you think you’ll need.

What you will need:

Medium sized soft taco wraps /tortillas

Tilapia

President’s Choice Mango Lime Salsa

President’s Choice Chipotle Dipping Sauce (you can also use Chipotle Mayo if you can find it)

Avocado

Lime (or President’s Choice Avocado Lime & Jalapeno dressing if you want to buy some or have it on hand)

Lettuce (the restaurant version used shaved fennel which is delicious but I can understand if it is not readily available in your crisper, as it was not in mine)

Sprigs of Cilantro (again, if you have it)

Bake tilapia in the oven for 15 minutes at 400 degrees. 

While it is cooking, scoop your avocado and mash it in a bowl with some lime and salt or with the President’s Choice Avocado dressing. Set aside.

Cut up any additional toppings you may want to put on your taco. I used romaine hearts as my lettuce, but if you’re a fancy-pants and went out and got fennel, then shred up some of that. If you’d like tomato, go ahead and chop some up too but I found the mango salsa to be chunky enough to not require more tomato. You should also now chop your sprigs of cilantro, Gordon Ramsey.

I recommend warming your soft tortillas for about 20 seconds in the microwave as it makes them fold-able and lovely once the toppings are inside. Spread your desired amounts of Chipotle Dipping Sauce (P.S., this is going to be an awesome dipping sauce for other recipes), Mango Salsa and mashed avocado on the warmed tortillas. Top with tilapia, lettuce and other toppings. Fold ‘em up and enjoy! 

And for my Vegetarian and Vegan friends, some substitutes:

Substitute firm to extra firm tofu or mashed chickpeas for the tilapia. 

Substitute store-bought vegan mayo or use this recipe for the regular chipotle mayo.

Both the PC Avocado-Lime dressing and the PC Mango-Lime Salsa are vegetarian/vegan friendly.

Moon Brand Original Saratoga Potato Chips

The snack package I received from a pal in New York included some Moon Brand Original Saratoga Potato Chips and I found them interesting right off the bat seeing they come in a cardboard box as opposed to the standard chip bag. Upon looking up the company's website and reading about the history of these chips, I was even more intrigued.

The story that goes along with these chips is of the “invention” of the potato chip, if you will. It all happened in 1863, when a fussy restaurant-goer sent back his fried potatoes for being “too thick”. The annoyed chef, George Crum, decided to be funny and do the exact opposite: cut the potatoes ultra-thin, fry them and serve them salted. The patron actually loved the potatoes cooked this way and they went on to become popular and known as Saratoga Chips.

Now, this brand of chips made by Saratoga Specialties Company began production in 2009 however they use the same recipe from back in the day and the box the chips come in replicates the chip box from the late 1800s. The chips are housed inside of a sealed foil bag inside of the cardboard box to seal in the freshness.

I won’t go into much detail, as these are plain kettle-style potato chips, so you can likely imagine what they taste like. I’m a huge fan of kettle chips (especially original) so I really enjoyed the Saratoga chips. I found their crunch and texture to be similar to Kettle brand (possibly a bit crunchier), and I did find that the oil used produces a little bit of a different taste.

Overall, these are a fantastic kettle chip that I think any potato chip fan should try. If you don’t live in the Northeast U.S., you can purchase Saratoga Chips online and they do list which retail outlets carry their products which include the original potato chips and also items like chocolate-covered chips and seasonings to sprinkle on the chips (you can find a review of the Dill Pickle flavour on Chip Review).

Wheat Thins Sweet Potato

While at the grocery store last week, they were sampling two new flavours by Wheat Thins: Sweet Potato and Spinach & Roasted Garlic. I believe these were both on shelves late last year but are now being promoted (I also saw a bus ad close to my gym), so I decided to buy a box of the Sweet Potato and give them a try.

Sweet Potato has jumped into the spotlight food-wise in the past few years, with most restaurants offering sweet potato fries as an alternative to regular fries and I’ve been seeing more and more sweet potato recipes online and flavours of new products popping up.

Taking a bite, these crackers have a great authentic sweet potato flavour, and upon taking a look at the ingredients, I see that they contain dehydrated sweet potato in addition to the enriched wheat flour and the whole grain wheat flour. They’re not overly sweet and the sweetness is rounded out by a touch of salt and cinnamon, still resulting in a savory cracker.

After initially trying the sweet potato Wheat Thins on their own, I topped them with some light cream cheese which made for a very satisfying and somewhat healthy snack. A 20 gram (or 13 cracker) serving weighs in at 80 calories and 2.5 grams of fat and surprisingly 0 grams of fibre.

Bought At: Metro

Price: $1.99, on sale 

Krispy Kreme Key Lime Cake & Key Lime Cheesecake Doughnuts

Krispy Kreme has been spot-on in the last year with their seasonal offerings and when I saw that the new spring flavour is not only Key Lime but Key Lime Cheesecake, obviously I had to get my hands on these! This new flavour is offered in two versions: Key Lime Cake, an original glazed cake doughnut topped with key lime cream cheese frosting and a dollop of “kreme” and Key Lime Cheesecake, a raised doughnut filled with a key lime cheesecake centre, topped with key lime cream cheese frosting and graham cracker crust crumbles.

I think it may be obvious from my previous Krispy Kreme reviews that I’m going to say I loved these. It’s true and as I think the descriptions of each doughnut paint a clear picture as to what they taste like, I’ll still add in my two cents. I learned from the Oreo raised doughnut that this type of doughnut is very decadent and the Key Lime Cheesecake doughnut proved to be the same. The key lime cheesecake-flavoured filling is very balanced and not too sweet and when paired with the frosting, graham cracker crumbles and the amazingness that is a krispy kreme doughnut, creates a delicious but very rich and decadent combination. This is definitely a dessert doughnut.

The Key Lime Cake doughnut has to be my favourite so far out of the seasonal cake doughnuts I’ve had from Krispy Kreme. I think it’s because I prefer “original” cake over chocolate and I really like how the original cake doughnut paired with the key lime cream cheese frosting. I did have this one for breakfast (paired with fruit, because I’m good) but immediately felt like I needed to spend the next 2 hours at the gym so again I will recommend this one for dessert because of its decadence.  That being said, I would gladly take this doughnut over a slice of cake or anything else for dessert, it’s that good.

Hats off to the product developers at Krispy Kreme, and I genuinely look forward to the next seasonal offering! 

Sweet & Salty Caramel Bugles

These Caramel Bugles came in the snack trade I did with a lovely lady from Maryland a few months ago (the snack mind reader I had mentioned before). I’ve actually heard of this flavour before from Canadians who pick up American snacks while shopping in Buffalo and always include this on their must-buy list. I have to admit, I’ve always been impartial to Bugles so these were never really on my must-try radar but after tasting them, they really should have been.

I’m going to make a bold statement here but this is the best sweet & salty snack combination I’ve ever had. The crunchy salty and corn flavour of the bugle pairs so nicely with the sweet and buttery caramel coating. They are so addictive I actually only had a few left in the bag to take a picture of! Unfortunately the pieces left in the bag don’t illustrate the delicious amount of caramel coating that are on most of the bugles.

Verdict: if you’re in the U.S. and have never tried these, do so immediately. If you do a Buffalo run, put these on your must-buy list! 

Sriracha Popcorn by J&D's and The Oatmeal

Sriracha seems to be the flavour-du-jour as it’s been popping up everywhere from limited edition Lay’s to all kinds of recipe ideas online. It’s been around forever so I’m going to guess it’s the power of the internet/ growing popularity of Thai restaurants that has brought this sauce into the spotlight. Part of my awesome New York snack package in included this Sriracha popcorn made by J&D’s.

 J&D’s is the brand that’s responsible for Baconnaise, the bacon flavoured mayonnaise as well as several other bacon-flavoured products. For this Sriracha popcorn they’ve teamed up with The Oatmeal (a comedic blog) because of their mutual love for the sauce and the product itself is made by the Seattle Popcorn Company. The bag features an illustrated man with fire coming out of his mouth while eating the popcorn with the caption underneath of “A crunchy firestorm for your face!”.  Will this product live up to that bold claim? They also cleverly illustrate the well-known Sriracha bottle with the rooster and the green cap and indicate “Rooster Sauce” for those that said “wtf is Sriracha?” when the similar-flavoured Lay’s came out.

I didn’t care much for the Sriracha Lay’s so would my opinion change if this flavour was coating a different textured snack? Opening up the bag, it smells distinctly like barbeque sauce and buttery popcorn mixed together. I really like how they pulled off the flavour on this popcorn. The Sriracha flavour is a nice blend of sweet and spicy and they have a buttery base that rounds out the spiciness well. I didn’t find them too hot, but I could imagine my face being on fire (as suggested by the packaging) about half-way through the bag.

Overall, I’m surprisingly impressed and intend on trying some of J&D’s bacon flavoured items in the future. 

Popchips Jalapeno Potato

I have to admit that I hadn’t jumped on the whole ‘healthy’ chips bandwagon as I’ve had original Popchips before and found that I don’t like taste of ‘potato flakes’ molded into chips. I was recently sent four flavours of Popchips that came in my NY snack package that we don’t have here in Canada (at least I don’t think we have here) so I figured there were several opportunities to change my outlook.

I’ll admit that I’m saving the other bags for in-flight snacks because the bags are the perfect portion size and I won’t feel as guilty as the person a few rows over taking down an entire can of Pringles (I’ve seen happen on a flight before). I thought I’d try out the Jalapeno flavour as that bag had the nearest expiry date.

Opening up the bag, I could already smell the Jalapeno and spice essence. Taking a bite, I was very impressed! These Popchips have a very authentic Jalapeno flavour, a perfect amount of spice and some flavours in the background that create a nice base and balance for the flavour. I thought I could taste a hint of lime but found there is only citric acid listed in the ingredients so that must be what creates the hint of tanginess.

Overall, I’m surprised and have now learned that I maybe do like Popchips when coated with a flavour. I like that they come in these smaller portioned bags which weigh in at 100 calories and 3.5 grams of fat for a 23g (or 17 chip) serving. I now have a new healthy snack option as long as Doritos and kettle chips are not in my cupboard!