Cod tacos with homemade tortillas

Here’s to tacos, homemade tortillas and new collaborations!

We’re thrilled to welcome a new partner to our food blog! Victoria specializes in cast iron cookware. This company from Medellín, Colombia, has been making quality cast iron products for three generations. They know what they’re doing!

Victoria sent us this amazing 8″ tortilla press. It’s solid, well built and makes preparing homemade tortillas a breeze. I expected to have more work preparing the tortillas, but I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was. And then the bonus… these corn tortillas taste so much better than store-bought tortillas.

Here’s how easy… you take a golf ball size bit of dough, roll it into a ball, place it on the centre of the press (I put a sheet of plastic in the press so the dough doesn’t stick to the cast iron), and you squeeze the dough flat with the press handle. It’s flat in two seconds flat. Then three minutes on the griddle and voila. Such an uncomplicated and authentic way of preparing food.

I followed Maseca’s instructions…

For these tortillas, I used Maseca corn masa flour. Other than adding a little salt, I pretty much followed their instructions. I could have played a bit more with the recipe, but it’s their specialty. Why mess with a good thing?

Having diabetes, I have to be careful with certain products. Corn is one of those products, so I’m going to work on an almond flour version of these tortillas in the near future. Stay tuned!

Don’t get me wrong, these scratch-made tortillas are lot healthier than most store-bought. The concern for me is on the diabetes side. Even then, I ate them in moderation, so I wasn’t concerned.

Fish tacos

I’ve had quite a few fish tacos over the years. It’s often my first choice at at food trucks when they’re on the menu. But I had never had cod fish tacos.

I picked up some fresh wild cod fillets at our local fish monger. So good!

It’s not always possible, but whenever I can, I make home made meals using ingredients I get from local farms and specialty merchants, like our fish monger.

The seared fish tasted delicious and it was so easy to make. My suggestions is that you use a nonstick pan or a well seasoned cast iron pan to avoid having the fish stick to the pan. Also, don’t flip it too much or cook it too long. You only need to cook each side once, and you want to take it off the heat as soon as it starts to flake.

The toppings

I’m pretty loose with the toppings because I believe taco toppings, just like pizza toppings, are very much a personal preference. You need a tortilla, some sort of main protein or main veggie, and the rest… have some fun! For me personally, I always love cilantro and fresh lime juice on almost any type of taco.

Tortilla leftovers

Maseca’s recipe yielded about 11 tortillas. This was a little more than the taco servings in this recipe. I could have adjusted the quantities for the tortillas, but I chose not to. Why you ask? Because my little guy had been asking for tortilla chips so I knew what to do with the extra tortillas.

After we were done eating the tacos, I cranked up the oven, cut the remaining tortillas into quarters, seasoned them, and baked them for a few minutes. Our little guy was in heaven! I’ll be making these again very soon.

If you’ve always bought your tortillas, consider making them from scratch. Honestly, it’s so much easier than you’d think. Make more food from scratch, and always eat well, friends.

Print Recipe

Cod tacos with homemade tortillas

Fish tacos are so delicious! It’s a whole other level of delicious when you make your own fresh tortillas. It’s a lot easier than you think!

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr

Course: Main, Main Course

Cuisine: Mexican

Keyword: tacos, tortillas

Servings: 3 to 4 servings

Ingredients

Homemade tortillas

• 2 cups Maseca corn masa flour
• 1 3/4 cups water
• 1/2 tsp salt

Cod preparation

• .65 kg or 1.43 lbs wild cod fillets
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil

Sauce

• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup franks (or other mild flavourful hot sauce}
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Toppings (All are optional. Feel free to use your own favourites)

• Shredded green leaf lettuce
• Roasted red pepper
• Shredded asiago cheese
• Salsa or pico de galo
• Cilantro
• Lime juice

Instructions

Tortilla preparation:

• Mix together the masa flour, salt and water.
• knead with the palm of your hand until the ingredients are well mixed, about 4 minutes.
• Make a ball with the dough, place it in a small bowl and cover with a moist paper towel (keeps the dough from drying out).
• Heat a cast iron griddle or pan to medium high to get it nice and hot.
• After the dough’s been sitting for about 30 minutes, start cooking the tortillas.
• Line the tortilla press with a cut ziplock bag so that the dough doesn’t stick to the cast iron (top and bottom). You can also use parchment paper.
• Pull out about a golf ball worth of dough (about 50 grams or 1.76 oz).
• Roll the dough into a ball and place it on the tortilla press. Press it down to flatten. If you don’t have a tortilla press, use a heavy pot or pan to flatten the tortilla.
• Place the flattened tortilla on the cast iron griddle and let cook for 1 minute.
• Flip the tortilla and let cook for about 45 seconds.
• Flip one last time, press the centre hard with the spatula and let cook for another 50 to 60 seconds.
• Place a tea towel or other clean cloth in a bowl.
• Place the cooked tortillas in the bowl on the towel and close the towel over the tortillas. The steam will soften the tortillas. Set aside.

Cod preparation instructions:

• Mix together the salt, pepper, lemon juice and olive oil.
• Pour the mixture over the fish pieces to coat.
• Cover and let sit for about 30 minutes in the fridge.
• Heat a cast iron or non stick pan to medium high.
• Pat down the fish with paper towel.
• Add the vegetable oil to coat the bottom of the hot pan.
• Place the pieces of fish in the pan and let cook for about 2 minutes or until edges start to colour.
• Flip only once and cook the second side for approximately 2 more minutes.
• Set the fish aside.

Sauce instructions:

• In a small food processor or hand held food processor, mix the sour cream, franks hot sauce, garlic, salt and pepper. Set aside.

Assembling the tortillas (Our topping are only suggestions, feel free to add your own creativity):

• Place a warm tortilla on a plate and add the lettuce, red pepper, salsa, fish pieces, sauce, cheese, cilantro and a squeeze of fresh lime juice.
• Enjoy!

Notes

• Cooking time for the tortillas may very depending on the pan or griddle you use.
• Don’t have a tortilla press? Use a heavy pan or pot to press down on the masa balls.
• Tip: The tortilla part of this recipe will yield roughly 10-12 7 inch tortillas. We followed the bag instructions. We had leftover tortillas. We cut them in quarters and made tortilla chips in the oven.