Light Summer Dinner: Lettuce Wrapped Fish Tacos With A Creamy Avocado Dressing and Fresh Corn Cakes

It's HOT!  I threw this meal together tonight with ingredients I had on hand.  With a little creativity, you can easily turn a summer weeknight meal into something yummy and fun.  You can really use any fish, chicken, or meat in this lettuce wrap.  But I decided that fish can always use a little help in the flavor department.


Red Snapper Lettuce Wrapper
Ingredients
Red Snapper cut into pieces (any other firm, white fish would work well)
1-2 tsp. of Cumin
1 lime
Butter lettuce
Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil


Creamy Avocado Dressing
Ingredients
1 Avocado
1/4 cup of Greek Yogurt
1 lime, zested and juiced
1 clove of garlic
1 tbs. olive oil
dash of water
Salt and Pepper


Instructions
Toss the fish in cumin, lemon juice, salt, pepper and a little olive oil.  Heat a non-stick pan and cook fish 2-3 minutes per side, being careful to flip gently.  Don't manhandle your fish!


Meanwhile blend all of the creamy avocado dressing ingredients in a blender.  The sauce should be thick and creamy, not watery.  You will probably need to stop the blender a few times to move it around.  I add a touch of water just to loosen it up a bit.  This is a great sauce for just about anything: grilled chicken, mexican spiced flank steak, grilled shrimp, any fish, burgers, veggie dipper.  I have even added this to rice - delish!  


That's really it for the dish.  I take a leaf of butter lettuce, add some dressing, fish, and a squeeze of lime and enjoy!  I went simple with this lettuce wrap, but add anything to it you like: fresh corn, tomatoes, jack cheese, etc.


Fresh Corn Cakes
Ingredients
Fresh corn kernels from 3 ears of corn
1 large egg
1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon butter, melted
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 scallion, minced
1 tsp. of sugar
1 tbs. of dill and parsley, chopped (this would be good with basil, sage, cilantro - be your own chef!)1/2 teaspoon salt
A few good turns of freshly ground pepper


Instructions
Lightly saute the corn and scallion and cool.  Mix the egg, milk, butter, flour, sugar, herbs, salt and pepper together.  Add the corn.  Your batter should be fairly thick.  Add a bit more flour if your batter is too runny.  Don't worry, this isn't serious baking so you won't mess it up.  


Heat a non-stick skillet and lightly coat with olive oil.  When olive oil is hot, drop batter by spoonfuls and cook 2-3 minutes per side.  The cakes will crisp up fast.  When done, I let rest on a paper towel to allow any excess oil to soak up.  That's it!  The corn cakes are great by themselves or with a little of the avocado dressing on top.  These corn cakes are quite versatile.  Make mini corn cakes for an appetizer and top with smoked salmon and some creme fraiche or even a pulled pork topper would be great as well.