Tilapia Tostadas

Preheat your oven to broil and preheat a grill pan over medium to medium high heat.

Cut 1/2 of the onion into 1/2 inch wedges reserve the wedges; and chop the other half. Place onion wedges, quartered tomatoes, chiles and garlic on baking pan. Drizzle with 1/3 cup of olive oil and place under broiler. Cook for 10-15 minutes, until vegetables are charred.

Meanwhile season both sides of tilapia with 1 teaspoon salt, pepper, and chipotle chile seasoning. Place on grill pan and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side, until opaque and cooked through. Once fish is cooked and removed from grill, shred the fish into bite size pieces.

Toss together radishes, chopped onion, cilantro, and shredded tilapia in a large bowl (you’ll be adding the tomato mixture to this bowl).

Puree the roasted tomatoes, onion wedges, chiles, garlic, and 1 teaspoon of salt in a blender (since it will still be hot from the oven, I recommend that you remove center piece from lid and cover with a paper towel to allow steam to escape), until mixture is smooth. Stir tomato puree into the bowl with tilapia, radishes, chopped onion, and cilantro.

Heat 1/2 cup of vegetable oil in in a medium skillet and heat over medium to medium high heat. Once oil is heated (it will be shimmering), place 1 tortilla at a time in oil and fry for about 1 to 1-1/2 minutes, flipping 2 or 3 times, until crispy. Use paper towels to drain some of the grease after removing tortillas from skillet.

Assemble tostadas by spreading a thick layer of heated refried beans, spoon with tilapia mixutre, sprinkle with a little bit of cotija cheese, and top it off with avocado slices. Add a dollop of sour cream if you like, but it’s completely unnecesary as there is plenty of flavor without. Even my husband who would lick sour cream off the spoon admitted he didn’t need the sour cream.