Meatless Monday - Fried Avocado Tacos with Roasted Red Peppers

Yes, this sounds far more delicious than healthy but sometimes it's okay to go that route.  Besides, the experts tell us that these veggies are really good for us and delicious so maybe it all balances out.  The arugula adds a little peppery spice.  It's not supposed to be really hot but you will get a hint of spice.

The thing is, these are so delicious you might want to eat them a lot.  You've been warned.

Fried Avocado Tacos with Roasted Red Peppers

Ingredients:

For the Avocado Tacos

2-3 red, orange and/or yellow peppers, sliced and seeded
2 ripe but firm Avocados
1 egg
¼ cup milk
½ cup flour
1 cup panko bread crumbs
½ teaspoon cayenne
½ teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon kosher salt
4 cups canola oil
8-10 4-inch tortillas
½ cup cotija cheese (or feta)
1cup arugula leaves
½ cup thinly sliced cherry or chopped tomatoes
Serrano cream sauce (recipe follows)
cilantro leaves for garnish

For the Serrano Cream Sauce
1 serrano chile pepper, seeded and ribs removed
½ cup cilantro leaves
½ teaspoon crushed garlic
2 green onions, roughly chopped
1 cup sour cream
juice of 2 limes
1 tablespoon water
pinch of sea salt


Instructions:

For the Serrano Cream Sauce Add serrano pepper, cilantro, garlic, and green onions to a food processor or blender and pulse until finely chopped. Add remaining ingredients and blend. Add sea salt or more lime juice to taste.  You can make this in advance and refrigerate.

Heat a heavy frying pan (cast iron would be best)using a high heat, drop in the pepper slices, let them start to blacken, about 2 minutes), turn and blacked the other side.  Remove from heat and set aside.

Blackening the Peppers

In a shallow bowl whisk flour with cayenne, chili powder and salt. In another shallow bowl, mix egg with milk. In another shallow bowl add panko bread crumbs.

Cut Avocados in half, remove pits and slice halved avocados into 4 equal slices. With a large spoon, scoop out whole slices from the avocado peel. Set slices aside.

In the frying pan, bring canola oil up to 350 degrees according to a deep fry or candy thermometer attached to the side of pan. Prepare a large plate with paper towels for draining avocados. One by one, dip avocado slices into flour mixture, then egg mixture, then in panko crumbs. Add avocado slices to hot oil and fry in small batches until golden brown, about 1 to 1 ½ minutes. Remove from oil with a slotted spoon or tongs and drain on the plate you prepared with paper towels.

Frying the Avocado

Spread a few arugula leaves in the center of each tortilla. then add 2-3 pepper slices and 2-3 fried avocado slices. Top with tomatoes, cotija cheese and Serrano cream sauce. Garnish with cilantro leaves and serve immediately.

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