Sauce recipe for fish tacos/shrimp tacos

Since the weather finally turned hot here this week (in the 90’s while other people get snow), I’m starting to think about dishes like fish tacos and shrimp tacos. What are your favorite sauce recipes for putting on top of the tacos? I’m looking for a light, tangy, citrus-based sauce; preferable one not made with mayo.

Thanks,
Bruce

Mine’s a simple mix of lime juice, chopped cilantro, pureed chipotle en adobo, with mayo and/or sour cream.

For a lighter version, you might substitute oil for the mayo/sour cream. Maybe some avacado too. Now I gotta make some fish tacos.

Tomatillos, onion, cilantro, avocado, lime juice, jalapeno, olive oil. Puree until smooth and use the olive oil to dictate texture. Add a bit of sour cream if you want to smooth it out or make it creamier.

Baja white sauce is simple; crema and limes, to your preferred consistency. All the additional ingredients you could add just muck it up IMO.

This is pretty tough to beat. The perfect match. And in a situation where I don’t have crema or sour cream, I use yogurt.

I was with you, Bruce, until your last six words,

Lime-jalapeño mayonnaise is the bomb.

salsa verde

roasted tomatillo (fast on the grill, slice in half before grilling)
roasted garlic (oven til soft)
roasted serrano (fast on grill, seeded)
roasted poblano (fully roasted skin peeled, seeded)
cilantro
lime
s/p
pinch of sugar or agave syrup
touch of oil

But I do love a bit of crema too. Not a lot, but it adds a richness I think the acidic verde needs. Not in the salsa of course, on the side.

Well, I just wanted to see if anyone had any recipes that were on the “light” side–e.g., no mayo, crema, or sour cream–just to keep the overall dish relatively low-cal. I suppose I could use a low-cal version
of mayo/crema/sour cream or even yogurt to see how those might work out.

Bruce

This sounds good. I usually just squeeze some lemon/lime and dab a little sour cream and hot sauce. Going to have to try this.

Should I marinate the fish/shrimp before cooking? What method of cooking should I use?

Personally, I preferred a quick cook on the grill with simple seasoning. If you’re cooking fish and you don’t want to grill, you can quickly sautee in a pan on the stove. Again, simple seasoning, but if you like having a bit of crust, you can quickly dredge the fish in seasoned flour before sauteeing.

Bruce

So you hit it with salt & pepper, toss it on the grill and then top with the sauce in the taco?

You can use a variety of spices depending on the type of fish and whether you like the fish to have more “kick.” A typical assembly is cooked fish, shredded cabbbage, and topped with sauce. Personally, I don’t like adding too much hot spice to either the fish or to the sauce, since you start to lose the flavor of the fish. Simple is better, but obviously it’s a bit of a blank canvas that you can fill as you please. I’ve seen people treat it more like what they think a beef taco should be, adding rice, beans, cheese, salsa, etc.

Bruce

We usually marinate for half an hour in lemon and lime juice, olive oil, a bit of hot sauce, salt, pepper, dried oregano, finely chopped or smashed garlic, grated ginger and turmeric. If you have access to a grill, grill it! We don’t right now, so we bake it in the oven and broil a bit to get it crispier. I like mine in a small flour tortilla with some finely sliced cabbage, hot sauce, cilantro, lime juice, and sour cream.

It goes without saying probably, but the whole thing is pureed in the food processor. It’s a pretty standard verde recipe that I try to dress up with good prep and some extra product(the poblano in particular). It approximates (by my taste) a recipe they use at La Sirena, a local mexican grill.

I love fish tacos. Thanks for all the sauce recommendations.

I made a sauce that I’m looking forwarding to trying. Sour cream and a touch of mayo, thinned out with fresh-squeezed lime juice and a bit of salt. It tasted pretty good, but I added one chipotle en adobo and half an avocado to the blender as well. I look forward to taking it for a spin tomorrow.

Bruce

Didn’t you read what the OP said? “preferable one not made with mayo.”

Oh. Nevermind.

You want me to read my own OP?

Next time I’ll try substituting a lower-cal version, perhaps using yogurt. But the sauce was delicious. The whole ensemble was pretty tasty, although next time I might try to saute the tortillas just a bit to get them slightly crispy.

Bruce

We tried substituting nonfat plain yogurt for mayo when trying to make this “light” but I didn’t care for the acidity the yogurt added. I like the idea of adding some avacado.