If you know me, then you know that I have an obsession with all things pineapple. One of my favorite taco spots in Chicago is Big Star. I love the tacos al pastor and the “Ensalada de Big Star.” The tacos are perfectly marinated and have little pieces of pineapple. I decided to try making my own version of the tacos & salad at home.

Steak Tacos with Grilled Pineapple

• Hard taco shells
• Red cabbage, chopped
• Avocado slices
• Red Onion, thinly sliced
• Cilantro
• Skirt Steak
• Pineapple slices, grilled ( I grabbed cored pineapple from the refrigerated section of produce to save some time too)

First I grilled the pineapple slices on the stovetop (I use a grill pan that I purchased from the Korean market & put on top of my gas grill) with some olive oil. Once the pineapples have some nice grill marks you can dice them up & set them aside.  I grilled the meat next so that the steak could soak up some of the pineapple flavor from the grill. Season the skirt steak with salt & pepper, then grill to your desired temp. Let the steak rest and assemble the remaining taco ingredients.

Fish Tacos with Avocado Sauce

• Tilapia Fillets (you can use any white fish, like cod or Mahi Mahi too)
• Panko bread crumbs
• cornstarch
• 1 egg
• Red onion, thinly sliced
• Red Cabbage
• Cilantro
• Queso Fresco
• Tortillas

for the avocado sauce

• extra virgin olive oil
• 2 limes
• Greek yogurt or sour cream
• 1 ripe avocado
• cilantro
• 2 cloves of garlic

To cook the fish, I coated the fillets in a little bit of cornstarch, then dredged in the egg wash, followed by coating with panko bread crumbs. Grill in a non-stick pan with a little EVOO, grill both sides just until the fish gets flaky. Use a spatula or fork to break up the fish.

For the sauce, I grabbed a handful of cilantro, 2 cloves of garlic, 1 ripe avocado, lime juice, half a container of a small sized greek yogurt and olive oil then blend. The sauce gets pretty thick, so you can thin it out with some water or more lime juice. I honestly just kept adding in a combo of water, EVOO & lime juice until the consistency and taste was just right. 🙂 You can make the sauce ahead of time too and keep in the fridge.

Once you’re ready to assemble the tacos, just add the fish and top with some veggies, queso fresco & the avocado sauce.

Salad

• Bag of romaine lettuce
• pumpkin seeds
• queso fresco
• radish, thinly sliced
• black beans (which I totally forgot to throw in! lol)
• avocado, diced
• pepitas/pumpkin seeds

dressing

• mayo
• greek yogurt or sour cream (I used the leftover greek yogurt from the avocado sauce)
• chipotle hot sauce
• EVOO
• lime juice

For the dressing, blend all ingredients until smooth. You can add more EVOO if it’s too thick. Throw all the ingredients into a bowl and add as much dressing as you like! Enjoy!