Crispy Sheet Pan Fish Tacos

Today is Tuesday.

And for once, it's Taco Tuesday here! See, I can be fun. OK they were pretty healthy and Steve ate all the chips and salsa at lunch today. So I am as fun as healthy tacos, no chips, and no margaritas can be. Around here it's better than usual.

Sheet Pan Crispy Fish Tacos 

Recipe from Rhonda Boone.

Ingredients

So little makes me feel so big.

1 1/2 cups pumpkin seeds (pepitas) ¿Que pasa? Sí. OK normally no way, skip! BUUUUT I actually, super coincidentally, always get the same salad from Chik-fil-A and it comes with a bag of chipotle lime pepitas. I save them for recipes like this!I had three bags of them, which only got me about 1/2 cup crushed seeds, but it still counts as kitchen serendipity. Normally I would never have pumpkin seeds unless it was early November. You can replace with literally anything crunchy or omit. I would have likely gone with pistachios if I wasn't awesome like I was tonight. But using expired salad toppings from a fast food joint makes me awesome in my head so, olé!

1 1/2 cups Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs) These puppies really make a difference over regular breadcrumbs.

Salt and pepper

3-4 skinless mild fish fillets (red snapper, striped bass, halibut), 1 lb. total I had two pounds of tiny perch fillets. And this recipe still provided enough toppings for me to dredge all but two of my fillets. I just counted for you - 16 total! Thats WAY more surface area than this recipe calls for. I would have been in a tiffy if I had followed directions because of all the waste. 

2 large eggs

1/4 cup mayonnaise

1 1/2 tsp. chili powder

Nonstick cooking spray

Accompaniments: tortilla shells, cilantro, sliced avocado, shredded cabbage, pickled jalapeño slices, hot sauce, chipotle mayo, and lime wedges I had mostly street taco shells (minis) so had to cut fillets in half. Just be mindful of the size of your fish v. the size of your fillets. 

Not the only thing I pickled today as a matter of fact.

Instructions  

1) Preheat oven to 350°F. Smash pumpkin seeds until finely ground or process them in the food processor. Mix them with the Panko and brown on a cookie sheet for 10 minutes. Sprinkle with 3/4 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper and transfer to a plate. I banged on my baggies of pepitas with a meat mallet. Fun! Also, my breadcrumbs were brown in 7 minutes. Watch them closely. 

2) Whisk together eggs, mayonnaise, chili powder, 3/4 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. pepper in a wide bowl. Dredge fish fillets in mayonnaise mix, pressing both sides and then in the pepita breadcrumbs, again pressing both sides. Transfer fish to a wire rack set over a cookie sheet and sprayed with nonstick spray.

3) Bake fillets for 18 minutes. Serve in warmed tortillas, topped with all the fix-ins and a chipotle mayo or hot sauce.