Blackened Alaska Halibut Tacos with Avocado Ranch Sauce

This post was sponsored by Alaska Seafood as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.

Visiting Alaska last summer gave our family a much deeper appreciation of the amazing seafood that comes from there. We were able to see so many beautiful fish literally jumping out of the water. There were Bald eagles swooping and catching huge fish everywhere we looked. It was absolutely amazing!

Even though we have an abundance of seafood in Florida too, we don’t have the amazing variety available in Alaska. So now we make sure to seek out fresh Alaska seafood whenever possible. There are quality fishmongers in our town that have great Alaska seafood. Some of my favorite Alaska fish are the Alaska pollock, crab, halibut and cod.

Alaska seafood is always sustainable and wild, which is very important to our family. Farmed fish isn’t always the best option because of environmental concerns. Wild fish is a nutritional, healthful protein that’s a great choice for my family.

Actually, Alaska is the only state with sustainability written into its constitution. Isn’t that amazing! They’ve created checks and balances to ensure sustainability and they work with many organizations at the state, federal and international level to set sustainable fishery management methods that uphold Alaska’s high standards.

Each and every season, Alaska only harvests as much fish as the environment can handle by proud fisherman. This allows the marine ecosystem and seafood species to continue to replenish every year.

To make sure you’re eating sustainable seafood, make sure to #AskForAlaska. You can ask your local fishmonger, inquire at your local restaurant or look for  “Alaska” on frozen and canned seafood packaging as well as menus.

I like to make healthy seafood and fish dishes for my family a few times a week. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends that we Americans consume 8 ounces of seafood per week. Alaska seafood is full of minerals, vitamins and heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids! There’s so many different fish and seafood dishes you can make from salmon burgers to fish tacos to crab dip.

When visiting Alaska we learned that Alaska is our nation’s largest source of domestic seafood. Nearly 60 percent of all the wild seafood harvested in the U.S. comes from the beautiful pristine waters of Alaska. I though us Floridians caught a lot of seafood!

Today I found some amazing fresh Alaska halibut at my favorite local grocer. I spoke with my fishmonger and he was able to confirm that this delicious halibut was sourced from Alaska!

My family absolutely loves blackened fish, so I decided to take this halibut and make it into these beautiful blackened fish tacos.

Blackened fish is super easy to do. Blackening is a cooking technique, not a seasoning blend like some spice companies would like you to believe. Whenever I blacken anything, I like to just use my all purpose Cajun seasoning blend.

To blacken in the traditional method, you start with a cast iron skillet, and then use high heat and butter to cook your food. However, I like to keep the heat on medium when cooking fish like this to more deeply brown instead of blacken. The flavor is just as good, and you don’t fill your kitchen with tons of smoke. If you want to blacken though, it’s also delicious!

As the fish is cooking, I lightly brown the corn tortillas in a little olive oil in a separate skillet. I also prepare the red cabbage, fresh cilantro and Avocado Ranch Sauce.

When everything is done, I assemble the tacos by placing the fish in the tortillas, layering on the red cabbage, fresh cilantro and drizzling on the avocado ranch sauce.