Taco Fiesta!

I love tacos. And I don't mean the typical American-style ground beef-and-taco sauce hard-shell kind, but rather, Minx-style tacos. This involves putting pretty much anything on a warm flour or soft corn tortilla, folding it up, and chowing down. One of my favorite recent concoctions involved leftover short ribs, tomatillo salsa, and tons of cilantro.

If I don't have any of my favorite jarred salsas on hand (the list is extremely short and basically consists of Trader Joe's corn salsa and Desert Pepper Salsa del Rio), I make one of my own using canned or fresh tomatoes, chopped roasted red peppers, fruits like pineapple or mango, scallions, and seasonings. Sometimes I also make a "crema" if I have sour cream, heavy cream, and/or plain yogurt on hand.

Minx-style tacos are always a big hit at Casa Minx.

That said, I've never been a big fan of fish tacos. I find them bland and a waste of non-leftover fish. But then I spotted this recipe contest and took it as a challenge to create a tasty Minx-style fish taco. It didn't hurt that most of my fishy choices were of the battered-and-fried variety and included shrimp. I created two versions, one with popcorn shrimp on flour tortillas, and one with grilled salmon on crisp corn tortillas. There were three home-concocted salsas and two cremas using a couple of far-out-for-tacos ingredients, plus some basic guacamole and shredded iceberg lettuce.

Every permutation was a hit, and I've sent two of them off to the contest people. I'll let you know if I win. :)

Can you guess the unusual ingredients?