We had a few friends over for dinner this weekend. With Cinco de Mayo coming up, we knew we wanted to serve Ray's insanely easy and delicious fish tacos with margaritas to celebrate the holiday a little early. The party was a huge success- the kids played together really well (after a few minor melt downs over toys everyone wanted at once,) the weather was cool and breezy, and the food was a big hit! There's really nothing more special than sharing a meal with friends in our back yard while the kids play.
Since the food we served was delicious and really easy to make, I thought I would share the menu in case you're looking for a quick and easy Cinco de Mayo meal for your family.
The Menu:
Fish Tacos with corn or flour tortillas (Ray loves flour, I prefer corn.)
Cream Cheese & Avocado Fish Taco Sauce
Corn & Avocado Salad (My absolute favorite summertime dish)
Beans and Rice (We use Vigo brand- so good!)
Hot Dogs for the kiddos
Watermelon
Fresh Citrus Frozen Margaritas
Fish Tacos: Ray insists this is too simple to be called a recipe, which makes me even more excited to share it with you. I love a meal that's incredibly simple to make, but still tastes really good. Ray's fish tacos are absolutely one of my favorite things he makes, and our friends agreed. "So nummy!" as Emmett likes to say. ;)
Ingredients:
1 pound Wild Pacific Cod (This should serve three. For the party, we made 3 pounds.)
Old Bay Seasoning
1 box Beer Batter
2/3 cup beer (We used an IPA)
Canola oil
Directions: Slice fish into small pieces. Lightly season with Old Bay Seasoning.
Mix Beer Batter and beer in a medium-sized bowl.
Place enough oil in a pot or pan to submerge the fish, and heat it on medium high until it's hot enough to fry. Dip each piece of fish in the beer batter, then submerge in oil for 2 1/2 minutes per piece. Lay on paper towel to cool.
Serve with tortillas, cole slaw, and lemon slices. Top with sauce, recipe below. :)
Cream Cheese & Avocado Fish Taco Sauce: This sauce is based on a sauce we had with fish tacos at a friends house years ago in California. Ray and I still talk about that sauce anytime fish tacos are mentioned! It was so delicious, but our friends don't remember the recipe, so I tried to come up with something similar for our party. It wasn't exactly the same as the sauce we remember, but I'm really happy with how it came out. :)
Ingredients:
1 8 ounce package of cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoon sour cream
1 avocado
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon celery salt
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 jalapeno, seeds removed, finely chopped
juice from 1 lime
Directions: Combine all ingredients in a medium-sized bowl, finishing with the lime juice, and mix in a blender or using a hand mixer. Serve cold with fish tacos.
Corn Salad: I crave this salad all year round. I wait impatiently for corn to be in season all through the winter until finally it begins to appear in stores again, and then I make this salad first thing and eat it straight from the bowl. It is my favorite dish to make in the summertime, so if you're going to a pot-luck with me this summer, expect to see it on the menu. :)
Ingredients:
5 ears of corn
2 avocados
1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
juice from 1 lime
olive oil
salt
pepper
Directions: Grill corn until blackened. If we don't have time to grill it, we'll put it under the broiler in the oven to blacken it a bit. Let corn cool, then slice the kernels off each ear into a large bowl.
Slice avocado and add to the corn. Add cilantro, salt and pepper to taste, and drizzle with olive oil, just enough to lightly coat the salad. Squeeze the juice from a lime over the salad, and mix. Enjoy!
Fresh Citrus Margaritas: We snagged a nice bottle of tequila on major sale yesterday, just in time for our Cinco party. We used grapefruit for our citrus because we have a grapefruit tree in our yard, but you can substitute lime, or orange, peach, watermelon, or whatever your heart desires. This recipe is for a large batch, and be warned, we like our margs on the strong side. ;)
Ingredients:
8 ounces tequila
6 ounces triple sec
juice from one grapefruit
8 ounces margarita mix
ice
Directions:
Mix ingredients together in a large blender and blend on high for about a minute and a half, until the ice is the desired texture. Enjoy, and drink responsibly!
I hope you've all had a lovely weekend so far! Have a safe and happy Cinco de Mayo!
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