Blackened Salmon Tacos with a Chipotle Black Bean Salsa, Sweet Corn and Cilantro Lime Crema

Tacos are so versatile. You can mix them up with a variety of ingredients, Fish, Meat, Pork, Veggies. Topping with any shredded cabbage, an inventive slaw or chopped lettuce. Salsas can be made from beans, corn, tomatoes, fruit or an endless variety of original ingredients. Add a simple Mexican crumbling cheese, or just good old shredded pepper jack. Sour cream cools it down, hot peppers spice it up. Bored with sour cream? Then make a cilantro lime crema topping instead, with a little lime juice to add a fresh taste. There are no shortage of combinations. But for sure, just keep the different toppings coming, mix it up, avoid becoming bored. I recently had Salmon Tacos in Texas at Torchys Tacos which I love for their creative fast food tacos. This was my inspiration today. Although I changed it up a bit.

This salmon taco is topped with a chipotle black bean salsa. Use the same recipe and add tomatoes to it for a great salsa to serve in the future alone, or as an appetizer served with tortilla chips as a dip.

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cooking Time: 10 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

2 lbs salmon, no skin

3 Tbs avocado oil or other neutral oil

1 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp whole dried oregano leaves

2 tsp sweet paprika

1 tsp thyme

½ tsp onion powder

3/4 tsp garlic powder

pinch of cayenne or more to taste

salt & freshly ground pepper

Ingredients for Chipotle black bean salsa:

1 can black beans, rinsed

2 Tbs diced red onions

1 Tbs sliced green onion

3 Tbs roughly chopped cilantro

1 tsp liquid puree or finely diced peppers from a can of chipotle adobe peppers

(use more if you wish to have more spice or flavor)

½ tsp sugar

½ tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

Sweet Corn Salsa:

1 cup corn kernels

1 cup chopped plum tomatoes

salt & pepper

Cilantro Lime Crema:

1 cup sour cream

3 Tbs fresh lime juice

1 bunch cilantro with stems

½ tsp salt

To Serve:

Sliced avocado

Mexican crumbling cheese

Whole Cilantro Leaves for decoration

Lime slices

Flour or Corn Tortillas

Directions:

Chipotle Black Bean Salsa:

Rinse black beans. mix all of the ingredients, set aside

For Corn Salsa:

Mix all ingredients, set aside

For Cilantro Lime Crema

Place all ingredients in a blender, mix until blended well. If made in advance, refrigerate until ready to use.

For the Salmon: heat the oil in a large skillet. I always prefer cast iron. It is not only healthier for you as it does not have any artificial coatings that peel off, but it gives a great sear to anything. If you want an easy way to de-skin the salmon, sear it for 15 seconds at the most in the pan, skin side down. The skin will now peel off easily. Cut your salmon into 3 inch wide strips. Sprinkle the salmon liberally with the salt and pepper. Mix all of the spices together. Sprinkle the spice mix over both sides of salmon. Salmon is now ready to sear. If using wild salmon, which I try to do, the time will be less than farm raised salmon as the farm raised salmon will be almost twice the thickness or more. Sear salmon 3 minutes on first side, flip, sear 3 minutes on the other side. Wild salmon overcooks very easily, it has less fat and is thinner so watch it. Maybe adjust the time and delete a minute. For thicker farm raised salmon, maybe add a minute or two to each side.

Serve on top of corn tortillas with slices of avocado. Top with the corn and the black bean salsas. Sprinkle cheese and cilantro leaves on top. Drizzle with the cilantro lime crema. Or, if you have family members with different tastes just place the cast iron pan with the salmon next to the wraps. Place small bowls of the cheese, and the salsas and the cilantro lime crema alongside with a small plate of sliced avocado. Let everyone make their own tacos.