Since summer in the windy city is winding down I wanted to post just a few more delicious dinners to have outside before the sunshine turns to snow. As one of my final farewells to summer I have to post about my favorite – TACOS! These super easy grilled fish tacos cook up in minutes, they’re super flavorful, and they are the perfect base to layer heaps of crunchy, fresh slaw and creamy guacamole onto. So we had a big old taco party for two with all the sides and dips you can imagine. Behold!

First, you can’t have a taco party without some spicy salsa. This is a crazy easy recipe that I usually have everything on hand for and it’s obviously best in the summertime when tomatoes are perfectly sweet and ripe.

Pico De Gallo Ingredients:
4 chopped ripe tomatoes (remove all seeds)
1/4 cup minced red onion
1 chopped jalepeno
2 cloves minced garlic
small bunch of chopped cilantro
juice of 1 lime
pinch of salt & pepper
pinch of sugar

Just combine the above ingredients, voila!

Next up is my creamy guacamole which is a perfect topper for fish or chicken tacos.

Creamy Guac Ingredients
1 ripe avocado, pitted and sliced
juice of 1/2 a lemon
1/4 cup of sour cream
spoonful of spicy green salsa
pinch of salt & pepper

Combine ingredients in a bowl and mash together really well. I like this to be pretty smooth but feel free to leave as chunky as you like!

Then we have the beans. These freaking beans are the best. Here is the recipe from a previous post of mine. They soak in beer with onion, jalapenos, and garlic for over an hour just getting better and better by the minute. I’ve even brought this dish as a bean dip to a party and it got gobbled right up, so definitely give these a go.

Next, Sir Dave found an excellent new slaw recipe from Bon Appetit that was creamy, crispy and had just the right amount of zing from the lime juice and cilantro. Oh, and it’s pretty.

Cabbage and Jicama Slaw
1 bunch cilantro (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp finely grated lime zest
3 tbsp fresh lime juice
1/2 cup mayonnaise
pinch salt & pepper
1/4 large head of red cabbage (or you can use green), sliced very thinly
1 julienned & peeled small jicama (about 1 cup)
4 sliced scallions

First separate the stems and leaves from the bunch of cilantro. Then coarsely chop the leaves and set aside. Next put the cilantro stems, sour cream, lime zest and fresh lime juice into a blender and puree until smooth. Then transfer cilantro mixture to a large bowl and whisk in the mayo and salt and pepper. Add the sliced cabbage, the julienned jicama, the scallions and the cilantro leaves. Mix until everything is well coated.

Last up is the simple but extremely tasty grilled Mahi Mahi for the tacos. This is a great rub we got from Bobby Flay that would be good on almost any fish.

Grilled Fish Taco Ingredients
4 8 oz filets of mahi mahi
3 tbs ancho chile powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp light brown sugar
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
tortillas

For the rub, combine the ancho powder, cinnamon, cumin, salt, brown sugar and pepper in a bowl and mix to blend. Next up brush the top of the fish filets with canola oil and sprinkle them with salt, pepper and about 3 tbs of the spice rub and let stand for 5 minutes. Then grill the fish, spice-side down, over direct heat until the fish is lightly charred and comes away from the grill easily, about two minutes. Flip and cook another 2 minutes to sear on the reverse side. Move the fish over indirect heat, cover the grill, and cook until the fish is just cooked through, another 3 to 4 minutes. The fish should be just firm when squeezed lightly on the sides. Remove the fish to a platter and let rest for a few minutes.

Finally put a heaping mound of that delicious fish on a warmed tortilla and top with the slaw and guac or whatever your heart desires. It’s simple, fresh and quick! Let’s grab those summer nights while we still can y’all…